Bovinae
Encyclopedia
The biological subfamily Bovinae includes a diverse group of 10 genera of medium to large sized ungulate
Ungulate
Ungulates are several groups of mammals, most of which use the tips of their toes, usually hoofed, to sustain their whole body weight while moving. They make up several orders of mammals, of which six to eight survive...

s, including domestic cattle
Cattle
Cattle 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 primigenius...

, the bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...

, African buffalo
African Buffalo
The African buffalo, affalo, nyati, Mbogo or Cape buffalo is a large African bovine. It is not closely related to the slightly larger wild Asian water buffalo, but its ancestry remains unclear...

, the water buffalo
Bubalus
Bubalus is a genus of bovines, whose English name is buffalo. Species that belong to this genus are:* Subgenus Bubalus** Water Buffalo, Bubalus bubalis*** Carabao, Bubalus bubalis carabanesis...

, the yak
Yak
The yak, Bos grunniens or Bos mutus, is a long-haired bovine found throughout the Himalayan region of south Central Asia, the Tibetan Plateau and as far north as Mongolia and Russia. In addition to a large domestic population, there is a small, vulnerable wild yak population...

, and the four-horned and spiral-horned antelopes. The evolutionary relationship between the members of the group is obscure, and their classification into loose tribes rather than formal sub-groups reflects this uncertainty. General characteristics include cloven hoof
Cloven hoof
A cloven hoof is a hoof split into two toes. This is found on members of the mammalian order Artiodactyla. Examples of mammals that possess this type of hoof are deer and sheep. In folklore and popular culture, a cloven hoof has long been associated with the Devil.The two digits of cloven hoofed...

s and usually at least one of the sexes of a species having true horn
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...

s.

In most countries, bovids are used for food. Cattle are eaten almost everywhere except in major parts of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

, where bovids are considered sacred by Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

s.

Systematics and classification

  • FAMILY BOVIDAE
    • Subfamily Bovinae
      • Tribe Boselaphini
        Boselaphini
        Boselaphini is a tribe of antelopes belonging to the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. It contains only two extant genera.-Description:...

        • Genus Tetracerus
          • Four-horned antelope
            Four-horned Antelope
            The Four-horned Antelope , or Chousingha, is a small antelope found in open forest in India and Nepal. It is the only species currently classified in the genus Tetracerus.-Description:...

            , Tetracerus quadricornis
        • Genus Boselaphus
          • Nilgai
            Nilgai
            The nilgai , sometimes called nilgau, is an antelope, and is one of the most commonly seen wild animals of central and northern India and eastern Pakistan; it is also present in parts of southern Nepal. The mature males appear ox-like and are also known as blue bulls...

             or blue bull, Boselaphus tragocamelus (not to be confused with the extinct bluebuck
            Bluebuck
            The Bluebuck or Blue Antelope , sometimes called Blaubok, is an extinct species of antelope, the first large African mammal to disappear in historic times. It is related to the Roan Antelope and Sable Antelope, but slightly smaller than either...

             Hippotragus leucophaeus, Hippotraginae)
      • Tribe Bovini
        Bovini
        The Bovini tribe is made up of large to very large grazers, including large animals of great economic significance to humans in Domestic Cattle, Domestic buffalo, and the Yak, as well as smaller Asian relatives, and large free-roaming bovids in the African Buffalo and the American...

        • Genus Bubalus
          Bubalus
          Bubalus is a genus of bovines, whose English name is buffalo. Species that belong to this genus are:* Subgenus Bubalus** Water Buffalo, Bubalus bubalis*** Carabao, Bubalus bubalis carabanesis...

          • Domestic Asian water buffalo, Bubalus bubalis
          • Wild Asian water buffalo
            Wild Asian Water Buffalo
            The wild water buffalo also called Asian buffalo and Asiatic buffalo is a large bovine native to Southeast Asia...

            , Bubalus arnee
          • Lowland anoa, Bubalus depressicornis
          • Mountain anoa, Bubalus quarlesi
          • Tamaraw
            Tamaraw
            The Tamaraw or Mindoro Dwarf Buffalo is a small, hoofed mammal belonging to the family Bovidae. It is endemic to the island of Mindoro in the Philippines and is the only endemic Philippine bovine. It is believed, however, to have once also thrived on the greater island of Luzon...

            , Bubalus mindorensis
          • Cebu tamaraw†, Bubalus cebuensis
            Bubalus cebuensis
            The Cebu tamaraw is a fossil dwarf buffalo discovered in the Philippines, and first described in 2006.-Anatomy and morphology:...

            (extinct)
        • Genus Bos
          Bos
          Bos is the genus of wild and domestic cattle. Bos can be divided into four subgenera: Bos, Bibos, Novibos, and Poephagus, but these divisions are controversial. The genus has five extant species...

          • Aurochs
            Aurochs
            The aurochs , the ancestor of domestic cattle, were a type of large wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa, but is now extinct; it survived in Europe until 1627....

            †, Bos primigenius (extinct)
          • Banteng, Bos javanicus
          • Gaur
            Gaur
            The gaur , also called Indian bison, is a large bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. The species is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986 as the population decline in parts of the species' range is likely to be well over 70% over the last three generations...

            , Bos gaurus
          • Gayal
            Gayal
            Gayal or mithun is the domestic gaur, probably a gaur-cattle hybrid breed.-Taxonomy:In his first description of 1804, Aylmer Bourke Lambert applied the binomial Bos frontalis to a domestic specimen probably from Chittagong....

            , Bos frontalis (domestic gaur)
          • Yak
            Yak
            The yak, Bos grunniens or Bos mutus, is a long-haired bovine found throughout the Himalayan region of south Central Asia, the Tibetan Plateau and as far north as Mongolia and Russia. In addition to a large domestic population, there is a small, vulnerable wild yak population...

            , Bos mutus, Bos grunniens
          • Bos palaesondaicus
            Bos palaesondaicus
            Bos palaesondaicus occurred on Pleistocene Java and belongs to the Bovinae subfamily. It has been described by the Dutch paleoanthropologist Eugène Dubois in 1908. The holotype of Bos palaesondaicus is a skull from Trinil. This species is the likely ancestor to the banteng ....

            †, (extinct)
          • Domestic cattle
            Cattle
            Cattle 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 primigenius...

            , Bos taurus (increasingly considered a subspecies of Bos primigenius)
          • Kouprey
            Kouprey
            A kouprey , is a wild, forest-dwelling ox found mainly in northern Cambodia, but also believed to exist in southern Laos, western Vietnam, and eastern Thailand. It was discovered in 1937.Koupreys are very large ungulates, and can approach similar sizes to the wild Asian water buffalo...

            , Bos sauveli
        • Genus Pseudoryx
          • Saola
            Saola
            The Saola, Vu Quang ox or Asian unicorn, also, infrequently, Vu Quang bovid , one of the world's rarest mammals, is a forest-dwelling bovine found only in the Annamite Range of Vietnam and Laos...

            , Pseudoryx nghetinhensis
        • Genus Syncerus
          • African buffalo
            African Buffalo
            The African buffalo, affalo, nyati, Mbogo or Cape buffalo is a large African bovine. It is not closely related to the slightly larger wild Asian water buffalo, but its ancestry remains unclear...

            , Syncerus caffer
        • Genus Bison
          Bison
          Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...

          • American bison
            American Bison
            The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...

            , Bison bison
          • Wisent
            Wisent
            The wisent , Bison bonasus, also known as the European bison or European wood bison, is a species of Eurasian bison. It is the heaviest surviving land animal in Europe; a typical wisent is about long, not counting a tail of long, and tall. Weight typically can range from , with an occasional big...

            , Bison bonasus
          • Steppe wisent
            Steppe Wisent
            The Steppe Bison or steppe wisent was a bison found on steppes throughout Europe, Central Asia, Beringia, and North America during the Quaternary...

            †, Bison priscus (extinct)
          • Ancient bison†, Bison antiquus (extinct)
        • Genus Pelorovis
          Pelorovis
          Pelorovis is an extinct genus of African wild cattle, which first appeared in the Pliocene, 2.5 million years ago., and became extinct at the end of the Late Pleistocene about 12.000 years ago or even during the Holocene, some 4,000 years ago...

          † (extinct)
          • Giant buffalo, Pelorovis antiquus
      • Tribe Strepsicerotini
        Strepsicerotini
        Where the Boselaphini and Bovini are mostly Asian, members of the Strepsicerotini tribe, the spiral-horned antelopes, are found only on the continent of Africa. This group tends to large size, a lighter build, longer necks and considerable sexual dimorphism...

        • Genus Tragelaphus
          Tragelaphus
          The genus Tragelaphus contains several species of bovine, all of which are relatively antelope-like. Species in this genus tend to be large sized, lightly built, have long necks and considerable sexual dimorphism. The Common Eland was once classified in this genus as T. oryz...

          (antelope
          Antelope
          Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...

          -like)
          • Bongo
            Bongo (antelope)
            The western or lowland bongo, Tragelaphus eurycerus eurycerus, is a herbivorous, mostly nocturnal forest ungulate and among the largest of the African forest antelope species....

            , Tragelaphus eurycerus
          • Greater kudu
            Greater Kudu
            The Greater Kudu is a woodland antelope found throughout eastern and southern Africa. Despite occupying such widespread territory, they are sparsely populated in most areas, due to a declining habitat, deforestation and hunting....

            , Tragelaphus strepsiceros
          • Kéwel
            Kéwel
            The Kéwel is a small to medium sized antelope widespread in west and central Africa. Formerly and alongside the Imbabala it was generically known as the bushbuck, however, it has since been found to be a species in its own right, with a separate geographic distribution...

            , Tragelaphus scriptus
          • Imbabala, Tragelaphus sylvaticus
          • Lesser kudu
            Lesser Kudu
            The lesser kudu is a forest antelope found in East Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. The southern lesser kudu is a subspecies found in Kenya and Tanzania....

            , Tragelaphus imberbis
          • Mountain nyala
            Mountain Nyala
            The Mountain Nyala found in Oromia, Ethiopia as gadumsa, is an antelope found in high altitude woodland in a small part of central Ethiopia...

            , Tragelaphus buxtoni
          • Nyala
            Nyala
            The Nyala is a Southern African antelope. It is a spiral-horned dense-forest antelope that is uncomfortable in open spaces and is most often seen at water holes. Nyalas live alone or in small family groups of up to 10 individuals.The male stands up to 110 cm , the female is up to 90 cm ...

            , Tragelaphus angasii
          • Sitatunga
            Sitatunga
            The situtunga or marshbuck is a swamp-dwelling antelope found throughout Central Africa, centering on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and parts of Southern Sudan as well as in Ghana, Botswana, Zambia, Gabon, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.-Description:Situtunga stand about one and a...

            , Tragelaphus spekeii
        • Genus Taurotragus
          Taurotragus
          Taurotragus, commonly called Eland, is a genus of antelopes of the African savannah, containing two species: the Common Eland and the Giant Eland...

          • Common eland
            Common Eland
            The common eland , also known as the southern eland or eland antelope, is a savannah and plains antelope found in East and Southern Africa. It is the largest antelope in the African continent...

            , Taurotragus oryx
          • Giant eland
            Giant Eland
            The giant eland is an open forest savannah antelope. It is found in Central African Republic, South Sudan, Cameroon and Senegal. There are two subspecies: the endangered T. d. derbianus, found in Senegal's Niokolo-Koba National Park, and the low risk T. d...

            , Taurotragus derbianus

Etymology

Bovine is derived from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 bos, "ox", through Late Latin
Late Latin
Late Latin is the scholarly name for the written Latin of Late Antiquity. The English dictionary definition of Late Latin dates this period from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD extending in Spain to the 7th. This somewhat ambiguously defined period fits between Classical Latin and Medieval Latin...

 bovinus. Bos comes from the Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...

root *gwous, meaning ox.
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