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Cattle
Cattle—colloquially cows—are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos'', and are most commonly classified collectively as ''Bos taurus''. Cattle are raised as livestock for meat (beef and veal), as dairy animals for milk and other dairy products, and as draft animals (oxen or bullocks that pull carts, plows and other implements). Other products include leather and dung for manure or fuel. In some regions, such as parts of India, cattle have significant religious meaning. From as few as 80 progenitors domesticated in southeast Turkey about 10,500 years ago,〔 Op. cit. in 〕 according to an estimate from 2003, there are 1.3 billion cattle in the world. In 2009, cattle became one of the first livestock animals to have a fully mapped genome. Some consider cattle the oldest form of wealth, and cattle raiding consequently one of the earliest forms of theft.
== Taxonomy ==
Cattle were originally identified as three separate species: ''Bos taurus'', the European or "taurine" cattle (including similar types from Africa and Asia); ''Bos indicus'', the zebu; and the extinct ''Bos primigenius'', the aurochs. The aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and taurine cattle. Now, these have been reclassified as one species, ''Bos taurus'', with three subspecies: ''Bos taurus primigenius'', ''Bos taurus indicus'', and ''Bos taurus taurus''.
Complicating the matter is the ability of cattle to interbreed with other closely related species. Hybrid individuals and even breeds exist, not only between taurine cattle and zebu (such as the sanga cattle, ''Bos taurus africanus''), but also between one or both of these and some other members of the genus ''Bos''yaks (the dzo or yattle〔("Yattle What?" ), ''Washington Post'', 11 August 2007〕), banteng, and gaur. Hybrids such as the beefalo breed can even occur between taurine cattle and either species of bison, leading some authors to consider them part of the genus ''Bos'', as well.〔Groves, C. P., 1981. Systematic relationships in the Bovini (Artiodactyla, Bovidae). ''Zeitschrift für Zoologische Systematik und Evolutionsforschung'', 4:264–278., quoted in 〕 The hybrid origin of some types may not be obvious – for example, genetic testing of the Dwarf Lulu breed, the only taurine-type cattle in Nepal, found them to be a mix of taurine cattle, zebu, and yak. However, cattle cannot successfully be hybridized with more distantly related bovines such as water buffalo or African buffalo.
The aurochs originally ranged throughout Europe, North Africa, and much of Asia. In historical times, its range became restricted to Europe, and the last known individual died in Masovia, Poland, in about 1627.〔Van Vuure, C.T. 2003. ''De Oeros – Het spoor terug'' (in Dutch), Cis van Vuure, Wageningen University and Research Centrum: quoted by (The Extinction Website: ''Bos primigenius primigenius''. )〕 Breeders have attempted to recreate cattle of similar appearance to aurochs by crossing traditional types of domesticated cattle, creating the Heck cattle breed.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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