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Description
The family Bovidae is the largest and most successful living family of ungulates with over 100 species acting as major herbivores all over the globe. This family includes the antelope, sheep, goats, and cattle, shown here. Bovines; the wild cattle, are the biggest bovids and include bison, buffalo and many species of wild oxen. Most members of this tribe are large animals; the gaur and wild water buffalo both can weigh over a ton. All species also sport long, pointed, curved horns used for defense and for interspecific fighting over territory and mates. Bovines are among the dominant grazing herbivores in their ecosystems, forming massive herds that migrate across grasslands and forests in search of good grass. The American bison once formed herds of over a million animals on the American Great Plains. Herds are usually protected by dominant bulls who fight eahc other over position on the hierarchy, with the dominant bull having rights to all the females. All species are targeted by predators such as wolves and lions, although bison and buffalo are well known to fight off these predators, and similarly are known to charge and attack unsuspecting humans as well. The aurochs; a massive and powerful wild oxen from Eurasia, was well known in the ancient world for being a formidable quarry. Despite this, early agriculturalists in the Middle East and India domesticated the aurochs and gave rise to zebu and domestic cattle, which today is raised all over the planet for meat, milk, leather and labor. Other bovine species, including the yak, water buffalo, banteng and gaur have been domesticated as well; mainly in Asia, though wild populations still remain. Many wild bovines are threatened by human beings through hunting/poaching and destruction of their habitat, often to make roam for domestic cattle to graze. Diseases between domestic cattle and wild species is also a threat. The large-scale raising of cattle is also a major contributor to the extinction of many other living things, from the huge amounts of land usurped for cattle farming to the huge amounts of methane produced by the animal's ruminant digestive system adding to the greenhouse gases causing the Earth's climate to change dramatically.

Species shown:
Wild water buffalo/ Bubalus arnee
American bison/ Bison bison
†Aurochs/ †Bos primigenius
African buffalo/ Syncerus caffer
Gaur/ Bos gaurus

Description
The family Bovidae is the largest and most successful living family of ungulates with over 100 species acting as major herbivores all over the globe. This family includes the antelope, sheep, goats, and cattle, shown here. Bovines; the wild cattle, are the biggest bovids and include bison, buffalo and many species of wild oxen. Most members of this tribe are large animals; the gaur and wild water buffalo both can weigh over a ton. All species also sport long, pointed, curved horns used for defense and for interspecific fighting over territory and mates. Bovines are among the dominant grazing herbivores in their ecosystems, forming massive herds that migrate across grasslands and forests in search of good grass. The American bison once formed herds of over a million animals on the American Great Plains. Herds are usually protected by dominant bulls who fight eahc other over position on the hierarchy, with the dominant bull having rights to all the females. All species are targeted by predators such as wolves and lions, although bison and buffalo are well known to fight off these predators, and similarly are known to charge and attack unsuspecting humans as well. The aurochs; a massive and powerful wild oxen from Eurasia, was well known in the ancient world for being a formidable quarry. Despite this, early agriculturalists in the Middle East and India domesticated the aurochs and gave rise to zebu and domestic cattle, which today is raised all over the planet for meat, milk, leather and labor. Other bovine species, including the yak, water buffalo, banteng and gaur have been domesticated as well; mainly in Asia, though wild populations still remain. Many wild bovines are threatened by human beings through hunting/poaching and destruction of their habitat, often to make roam for domestic cattle to graze. Diseases between domestic cattle and wild species is also a threat. The large-scale raising of cattle is also a major contributor to the extinction of many other living things, from the huge amounts of land usurped for cattle farming to the huge amounts of methane produced by the animal's ruminant digestive system adding to the greenhouse gases causing the Earth's climate to change dramatically.

Species shown:
Wild water buffalo/ Bubalus arnee
American bison/ Bison bison
†Aurochs/ †Bos primigenius
African buffalo/ Syncerus caffer
Gaur/ Bos gaurus