Aurochs Temporal range: Late Pliocene to Holocene
Mounted skeleton in National Museum of Denmark (Copenhagen)
Conservation status
Extinct  (1627) (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Bovinae
Genus:	Bos
Species:	†B. primigenius
Binomial name
†Bos primigenius
Subspecies
Bos primigenius primigenius   (Bojanus, 1827) Bos primigenius namadicus   (Falconer, 1859) Bos primigenius africanus   (Thomas, 1881)
Map, after Cis Van Vuure's Retracing the Aurochs: History, Morphology & Ecology of an Extinct Wild Ox
Synonyms
Bos mauretanicus Thomas, 1881 Bos namadicus Falconer, 1859

The aurochs ( /ˈaʊrɒks/ or /ˈɔrəks/; also urus, (Bos primigenius), the ancestor of domestic cattle, was a type of large wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa, but which is now extinct; it survived in Europe until the last recorded aurochs, a female, died in the Jaktorów Forest, Poland in 1627. Her skull is now the property of the Livrustkammaren ("Royal Armory") museum in Stockholm, Sweden^{[citation needed]}.

During the early Holocene in course of the Neolithic Revolution, aurochs were domesticated in at least two domestication events: one concerning the Indian subspecies, leading to Zebu cattle, the other one concerning the Eurasian subspecies leading to taurine cattle. Other species of wild bovines were domesticated as well, such as the wild water buffalo, Gaur, and Banteng. In modern cattle, there are numerous breeds that share characteristics of the aurochs, such as a dark colour of the bulls with a light eel stripe and light colour in cows, or a typical aurochs-like horn shape.

Taxonomy and Etymology[link]

Illustration from Sigismund von Herberstein's book published in 1556 captioned "I'm 'urus', tur in Polish, aurox in German (dunces call me bison)";
Latin original: Urus sum, polonis Tur, germanis Aurox: ignari Bisontis nomen dederant

The animal's original scientific name was Bos primigenius. This scientific name is now considered invalid by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), which classifies aurochs under Bos taurus – the same species as domestic cattle. In 2003, however, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature "conserved the usage of 17 specific names based on wild species, which are pre-dated by or contemporary with those based on domestic forms",^[2] confirming Bos primigenius for the Aurochs. Taxonomists who consider domesticated cattle a subspecies of the wild Aurochs should use B. primigenius taurus; the name B. taurus remains available for domestic cattle where it is considered to be a separate species.

The words "aurochs", "urus", and "wisent" have all been used synonymously in English.^[3][4] However, the extinct aurochs/urus is a completely separate species from the still-extant wisent. The two were often confused, and some 16th century illustrations of aurochs and wisents have hybrid features.^[5] The word urus (/ˈjʊərəs/) comes to English from Latin, but may have come to Latin from Germanic origins.^[6] It declines in English as urus (singular), uruses (plural).^[6][7] In the German language, Ur derived to Auer in course of a diphthongization in the language during the 13th century. Later, "-ochs" as added, which is meant to refer to a wild bovine. This is how the German name of the animal turned to Auerochs/Auerochse.^[8]

The word "aurochs" comes to English from German, where its normal spelling and declension today is Auerochs/Auerochse (singular), Auerochsen (genitive), Auerochsen (plural). The declension in English varies, being either "auroch" (singular), "aurochs" (plural)^[9][10] or "aurochs" (singular), "aurochses" (plural).^[10] The declension "auroch" (singular), "aurochs" (plural), acknowledged by MWU,^[10] is a back-formation analogous to "pea"-from-"pease" derived from a misinterpretation of the singular form ending in the /s/ sound (being cognate to "ox/Ochs(e)"). The use in English of the plural form "aurochsen" is not acknowledged by AHD4 or MWU, but is mentioned in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.^[11] It is directly parallel to the German plural and analogous (and cognate) to English "ox" (singular), "oxen" (plural).

The name of the aurochs in other languages seems to be derived by "urus" as well. Such as uro (spanish language) or urokse (danish language).^[8]

Evolution[link]

During the pliocene, the colder climate caused an extension of open grassland, which increased the evolution of large grazers, such as wild bovines. Bos acutifrons is an extinct species of cattle sometimes claimed to be the ancestor of aurochs, but it was a species with very long, outwards-facing horns. The oldest aurochs remains come from about 2 million years, India. Therefore, the Indian subspecies was the first aurochs subspecies to appear. During the pleistocene, the species migrated into the Middle East and further into Asia, and reached Europe about 270,000 years ago.^[8] The South Asian domestic cattle, or zebu, descended from Indian aurochs at the edge of the Thar Desert; this would explain the zebu's resistance to drought. Domestic yak, gayal and Javan cattle do not descend from aurochs.

The first complete mitochondrial genome (16,338 base pairs) DNA sequence analysis of Bos primigenius from an archaeologically verified and exceptionally well preserved aurochs bone sample was published in 2010.^[12]

Subspecies[link]

Three wild subspecies of aurochs are recognized. Only the Eurasian subspecies survived until recent times.:

• The Indian Aurochs (Bos primigenius namadicus), the Indian Aurochs, once inhabited India. It was the first subspecies of the aurochs to appear, at 2 million years ago, and from about 9000 years ago (BP) it was domesticated as zebu cattle.^[13] Fossil remains indicate, that there were wild Indian aurochs besides domesticated zebu cattle in Gujarat and the Ganges area until about 4,000-5,000 years ago. Remains from wild aurochs, 4,400 years old, are clearly identified from Karnataka in south India.^[14]

• The Eurasian Aurochs (Bos primigenius primigenius) once ranged across the steppes and taigas of Europe, Siberia, and Central Asia. It is noted as part of the Pleistocene megafauna, and declined in numbers along with other megafauna species by the end of Pleistocene. The Eurasian aurochs were domesticated into modern taurine cattle breeds around the 6th millennium BC, in the Middle East, and possibly also at about the same time in the Far East. Aurochs were still widespread in Europe during the time of the Roman Empire, when they were widely popular as a battle beast in Roman arenas, and excessive hunting began and continued until it was nearly extinct. By the 13th century, aurochs existed only in low numbers in Eastern Europe, and hunting of aurochs became a privilege of nobles, and later royal households. The decreased hunting did not save the aurochs from extinction, and the last recorded live aurochs, a female, died in 1627 in the Jaktorów Forest, Poland from natural causes. Aurochs were found to have lived on the island of Sicily, where once there was a land bridge to Italy. After the disappearance of the land bridge, Sicilian aurochs evolved to a size 20% smaller than their mainland relatives.

• The North African Aurochs (Bos primigenius africanus = mauretanicus), the African Aurochs, once lived in the woodland and shrubland of North Africa.^[1] It descended from Aurochs populations migrating from the Middle East. The North African aurochs was morphologically very similar to the Eurasian subspecies, therefore this taxon maybe stands on a biogeographical ground only.^[8] However, there is evidence that it was genetically distinct from the eurasian subspecies.^[15] North African aurochsen possibly had a light saddle on their backs, as depictions indicate.^[16] This subspecies possibly disappeared during the antiquity.^[8]

Description[link]

Charles Hamliton Smith's copy of a painting possibly dating back to the 16th Century

The appearance of the aurochs is reconstructed by skeletal material, historical descriptions or contemporaneous depictions, like cave paintings, engravings or Sigismund von Herberstein’s illustration. Another drawing often referred to is the work by Charles Hamilton Smith, which is a copy of a painting owned by a merchant in Augsburg, which may go back to the 16th century. However, it has been proposed that this last illustration was actually drawn after a cattle/aurochs hybrid, or even just an aurochs-like breed.^[17] Other depictions and descriptions of aurochs appear in prehistoric cave paintings and in Julius Caesar's The Gallic War.

The aurochs was one of the biggest herbivores in the postglacial Europe, only comparable to the Wisent, the European bison. The actual size of aurochs seemingly was dependent on the region. In Europe, aurochs populations of the north were bigger on average than those from the south. For example, during the Holocene aurochs from Denmark and Germany had an average height at the shoulders of 155–180 cm in bulls and 135 to 155 cm in cows, while aurochs populations in Hungary had bulls reaching 155–160 cm.^[18] The body mass of aurochs probably was comparable to the Wisent or Banteng, reaching 700 kg on average.^[8] The sexual dimorphism between bull and cow was strongly expressed, with the cows being several decimetres shorter than bulls on average.

Life restoration of the aurochs based on a bull skeleton from Lund and a cow skeleton from Copenhagen

Because of the massive horns, the frontals of aurochs were elongated and broad. The horns of the aurochs were characteristic for the species concerning size, curvature and orientation. They were curved in three directions: upwards-outwards at the base, then swung forwards-inwards, then inwards-upwards. Aurochs horns could reach 80 cm in length and between 10 and 20 cm in diameter.^[16] The horns of bulls were larger with the curvature more strongly expressed than in cows. The horns grew from the skull in a 60° angle to the snout, they are clearly facing forwards. The horn shape of aurochs was an advantage because of the way intraspecific fights were carried out: in contrast to bison, they do not butt their heads against each other, instead they hook themselves with their horns and try to push away the adversary. Modern cattle breeds still exhibit this way of combat fight. As a protection for their eyes, the eye sockets of bulls were much stronger pronounced than in most contemporary cattle bulls.

The body shape of the aurochs was strikingly different from many modern cattle breeds. For example, the legs were considerably longer and slender, resulting in a shoulder height that nearly equalled the trunk length. The skull, carrying the large horns, was substantially larger and more elongated than in most cattle breeds. Only some primitive Mediterranean cattle breeds like Maremmana primitivo or Pajuna Cattle exhibit those traits. The body shape of the aurochs was, like in other wild bovines, athletic and, especially in bulls, showed a strongly expressed neck- and shoulder musculature. Even in carrying cows, the udder was small and hardly visible from the side; this feature is equal to that of other wild bovines.^[8]

Aurochs in a cave painting in Lascaux, France

The coat colour of the aurochs can be reconstructed by using historical depictions and contemporary depictions. In his letter to Conrad Gesner (1602), Anton Schneeberger delivers one of the most precise descriptions of the aurochs, which agrees with cave paintings like those in Lascaux and Chauvet. Calves were born in chestnut colour, young bulls changed their coat colour during few months into a very deep brown or black with a white eel stripe running down the spine. Cows retained the reddish-brown colour. Typical for both sexes was the lightly coloured mouth, which is also found in some bantengs.^[8] Except some north African engravings showing aurochs with a light saddle on the back,^[16] there is no evidence of a different coat colour of aurochsen in or outside Europe. A passage from Mucante (1596), describing the “wild ox” as gray, is ambiguous and may actually refer to the wisent. Egyptian grave paintings show cattle with a reddish brown coat colour in both sexes with a light saddle, but the horn shape of these suggest they depict domestic cattle.^[8] Remains of aurochs hair were not known until the early 80s.^[19]

Some primitive cattle breeds still display the coat colour characteristics of the aurochs, like the black colour in bulls with a light eel stripe, a white mouth or the typical coloural sexual dimorphism. A feature that is often attributed to the aurochs are blond fronthead hairs. Historical descriptions tell that the aurochs had long and curly fronthead hair, but none of them mentions a certain colour for it. Cis van Vuure (2005) therefore calls it, although it is present in a variety of primitive cattle breeds, a discolouration after domestication. But he mentions, that Gaurs have a lightly coloured fronthead as well. A gene which is responsible for this feature is not known yet.^[8] Zebuine breeds show lightly coloured inner sides of the legs and belly, caused by the so-called Zebu-tipping gene. It has not been tested if this gene is present in the wild form of the zebu, the Indian aurochs.^[8]

Habitat, ecology and behaviour[link]

Floodplain forests like this one in Germany were the last refuges during the aurochs' last centuries of existence.

Concerning the habitat of the aurochs there is no consensus. While some authors think that the habitat selection of the aurochs was comparable to the African Forest Buffalo, others describe it as an inhabitant of open grassland helping maintaining open areas by grazing, together with other large herbivores.^[20][21] With its hypsodont jaw, the aurochs likely was a grazer and had a food selection very similar to domestic cattle.^[8] Therefore, it was no browser like deer or a semi-intermediary feeder like the wisent. Comparisons of the isotope levels of Mesolithic aurochs and domestic cattle bones showed that aurochs likely inhabited wetter areas than domestic cattle.^[22] The description of Schneeberger tells that during winter, along with grasses, twigs and acorns were an additional part of the aurochs’ diet.

After the beginning of the Common Era, the habitat of aurochs became more and more fragmented because of the steadily growing human population. During the last centuries of its existence, the aurochs was limited to hideaway regions such as floodplain forests or marshes, where there were no competing domestic herbivores and less hunting pressure.

Like many bovids, aurochs formed herds for at least one part of the year. They probably did not number much more than thirty individuals, which likely were composed of cows with their calves and some young bulls. Older bulls probably wandered solely or in small bull herds outside the mating season. Assuming that the social behaviour between aurochs and descended domestic cattle is roughly the same, social status was evaluated through gestures and fights, which can occur in cows as well as in bulls.^[16] Like in other ungulates which form unisexual herds, there was a considerable dimorphism, because bulls which wander around solely can feed them selves better than within a whole herd, which is why selection forced for especially large bulls. In ungulates which form herds containing animals of both sexes, like horses, sexual dimorphism is weakly developed.^[23]

A painting by Heinrich Harder showing an aurochs fighting off a Eurasian Wolf pack

During mating season, which likely took place during the late summer or early autumn,^[8] the bulls had severe fights. It is known from the forest of Jaktorów, that fatalities could occur. During autumn, aurochs fed for the winter and got fatter and shinier than during the rest of the year, according to Schneeberger. During spring, the cows gave birth to the calves, for which they went into the forest. The mother stayed at its side as long it was not strong enough to join the herd on the feeding grounds.

Calves were especially vulnerable to wolves, while healthy adult aurochs probably did not have to fear these predators. In prehistoric Europe, North Africa and Asia, big cats like lions or tigers and hyenas were additional predators which likely preyed on aurochs.

Historical descriptions, like Caesar’s De Bello Gallico or Schneeberger, tell that aurochs were swift and fast, and could be very aggressive on occasion. According to Schneeberger, aurochs did not care much about an approaching man. But, teased or hunted, an aurochs could get very aggressive and dangerous, and threw the teasing person into the air, as Schneeberger wrote in his letter to Gesner in the year 1602.^[8] But basically, the aurochs likely must have been a peaceful animal to humans, otherwise it would have been hardly usable for domestication.^[16]

Domestication and extinction[link]

This specimen is from around 7500 BC and is one of two very well preserved aurochs skeletons found in Denmark. The Vig-aurochs can be seen at The National Museum of Denmark. The circles indicate where the animal was wounded by arrows.

The aurochs, which ranged throughout much of Eurasia and Northern Africa during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, is widely accepted as the wild ancestor of modern cattle. Archaeological evidence shows that domestication occurred independently in the Near East and the Indian subcontinent between 10,000–8,000 years ago, giving rise to the two major domestic taxa observed today — humpless Bos taurus (taurine) and humped Bos indicus (zebu), respectively. This is confirmed by genetic analyses of matrilineal mitochondrial DNA sequences, which reveal a marked differentiation between modern Bos taurus and Bos indicus haplotypes, demonstrating their derivation from two geographically and genetically divergent wild populations.^[12]

Domestication of the aurochs began in the southern Caucasus and northern Mesopotamia from about the 6th millennium BC, while genetic evidence suggests that aurochs were independently domesticated in India and possibly in northern Africa.^[24] Domesticated cattle and aurochs are so different in size that they have been regarded as separate species; however, large ancient cattle and aurochs "are difficult to classify because morphological traits have overlapping distributions in cattle and aurochs and diagnostic features are identified only in horn and some cranial element."^[8][25]

However, a DNA study suggests that all the domesticated cattles originate from a group of 80 wild aurochs. Those animals lived in Iran 10,500 years ago.^[26]

Comparison of aurochs bones with those of modern cattle has provided many insights about the aurochs. Remains of the beast, from specimens believed to have weighed more than a ton, have been found in Mesolithic sites around Goldcliff, Wales.^[27] Though aurochs became extinct in Britain during the Bronze age, analysis of bones from aurochs that lived in the same age as domesticated cattle there showed no genetic contribution to modern breeds. As a result of this study, modern European cattle were thought to have descended directly from the Near East domestication. Another study, however, found distinct similarities between modern breeds and Italian aurochs specimens suggesting that the previously tested British aurochs were not a good model of the diversity of aurochs genetics and suggesting possible North African and European aurochs input to domestic breeds.^[25][28][29] Further genetic tests have shown that domestic cattle in Europe is of Near Eastern origin, and that the European aurochs was not domesticated, nor did it interbreed with the imported Near Eastern cattle.^[30][31]

Petroglyphs in Fourneau-du-Diable (Devil's Furnace) rock in Bourdeilles, Dordogne, France. Solutrean period, 18,000 BP

Indian cattle (zebu), although domesticated eight to ten thousand years ago, are related to aurochs which diverged from the Near Eastern ones some 200,000 years ago. African cattle are thought to descend from aurochs more closely related to the Near Eastern ones. The Near East and African aurochs groups are thought to have split some 25,000 years ago, probably 15,000 years before domestication. The "Turano-Mongolian" type of cattle now found in Northern China, Mongolia, Korea and Japan may represent a fourth domestication event (and a third event among Bos taurus–type aurochs). This group may have diverged from the Near East group some 35,000 years ago. Whether these separate genetic populations would have equated to separate subspecies is unclear.

The maximum range of the aurochs was from Europe (excluding Ireland and northern Scandinavia), to northern Africa, the Middle East, India and Central Asia.^[32][33] Until at least 3000 years ago the aurochs was also found in Eastern China, where it is recorded at the Dingjiabao Reservoir in Yangyuan County. Most remains in China are known from the area east of 105° E, but the species has been also reported from the eastern margin of the Tibetan plateau close to Heihe River.^[34]

By the 13th century A.D., the aurochs' range was restricted to Poland, Lithuania, Moldavia, Transylvania and East Prussia. The right to hunt large animals on any land was restricted to nobles and gradually to the royal household. As the population of aurochs declined, hunting ceased but the royal court still required gamekeepers to provide open fields for the aurochs to graze in. The gamekeepers were exempted from local taxes in exchange for their service and a decree made poaching an aurochs punishable by death. In 1564, the gamekeepers knew of only 38 animals, according to the royal survey. The last recorded live aurochs, a female, died in 1627 in the Jaktorów Forest, Poland from natural causes. The skull was later looted by the Swedish Army during the Swedish invasion of Poland (1655–1660) and is now the property of Livrustkammaren in Stockholm. The causes of extinction were hunting, a narrowing of habitat due to the development of farming, climatic changes, and diseases transmitted by domestic cattle.^[35]

Breeding of aurochs-like cattle[link]

Heck cattle: an attempt from the 1920s to breed a look-alike from modern cattle

The most primitive lineages of Maremmana, called "Maremmana primitivo", are used in TaurOs Project

In the 1920s two German zoo directors (in Berlin and Munich), the brothers Heinz and Lutz Heck, began a selective breeding program in the attempt to breed back the aurochs into existence from the domestic cattle that were their descendants. Their plan was based on the concept that a species is not extinct as long as all its genes are still present in a living population. The result is the breed called Heck cattle. Heck cattle breeders sometimes refer to it as "Recreated Aurochs", or "Heck Aurochs". It is claimed to bear some resemblance to what is known about the appearance of the wild aurochs in colour and in some cases also horn shape.^[8]

Scientists of the Polish Foundation for Recreating the Aurochs (PFOT) in Poland want to use DNA from bones in museums to recreate the aurochs and return this animal to the forests of Poland. The project has gained the support of the Polish Ministry of the Environment. They plan research on ancient preserved DNA. Other research projects^[which?] have extracted "ancient" DNA over the past twenty years and their results published in such periodicals as Nature and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.^{[Full citation needed]} Polish scientists believe that modern genetics and biotechnology make recreating an animal almost identical to aurochs possible. They say this research will lead to examining the causes of the extinction of the aurochs, and help prevent a similar occurrence with domestic cattle.^{[36][citation needed]} In a similar program, TaurOs Project^[37] is trying to DNA sequence breeds of primitive cattle to find gene sequences which match those found in "ancient DNA" from aurochs samples. The modern cattle would then be selectively bred to try to bring the aurochs-type genes back into a single animal.^[38] TaurOs project selected a number of very primitive breeds mainly from Iberia and Italy, such as Sayaguesa Cattle, Maremmana primitivo, Pajuna Cattle, Limia Cattle, Maronesa, Tudanca Cattle and others, which already bear considerable resemblance to the aurochs in certain features. Numerous crossbreed calves have been born already.^[39]

Aurochs-like cattle breeds (selection)[link]

Spanish Fighting Bulls still bear considerable resemblance to the aurochs in features such as body shape, proportions, horn shape and sometimes even coat colour

Tudanca Cattle is a primitive Iberian cattle breed.

Because some cattle breeds have been changed more considerably than other breeds, there are certain breeds left which still bear a greater resemblance to the aurochs. These breeds are not very productive from the economical point of view, they do not give as much milk or meat as others. Most of the primitive phenotypes are facing extinction because farmers give them up or crossbreed them with more derived dairy and meat cattle. But, because they are very hardy and robust, they sometimes are used in nature conservation programs, where they can fill the place of their wild ancestor. Moreover, some of them are integrated in TaurOs Project, which aims to breed a cattle type phenotyically, genotypically and ecologically as close to the aurochs as possible^[40]

• Caldela
• Heck cattle
• Limia Cattle
• Maremmana primitivo
• Maronesa
• Pajuna Cattle
• Rhodopian Shorthorn^[41]
• Sayaguesa Cattle
• Spanish Fighting Bull
• Tudanca Cattle

In culture[link]

The aurochs was one of the most important hunting game animals and attained mythic significance early on. As oldest cultural references, aurochs are depicted in many Paleolithic European and Mesopotamian cave paintings such as those found at Lascaux and Livernon in France. When drawn in profile only one horn was visible, which some researchers say gave rise to the legend or Greek mythos of the unicorn^{[citation needed]}. Early carvings of the aurochs have also been found. The impressive and dangerous aurochs survived into the Iron Age in Anatolia and the Near East, and was worshipped throughout that area as a sacred animal, the Lunar Bull, associated with the Great Goddess^[which?] and later with Mithras. A 1999 archaeological dig in Peterborough, England, uncovered the skull of an aurochs. The front part of the skull had been removed but the horns remained attached. The supposition is that the killing of the aurochs in this instance was a sacrificial act.

Also during antiquity the aurochs was regarded as an animal of cultural value. Aurochs are depicted on the Ishtar Gate. Its horns often have been used by romans as hunting horns. Aurochs were among those wild animals which have been caught for fights in arenas. Julius Caesar wrote about aurochs in Gallic War Chapter 6.28:

"...those animals which are called uri. These are a little below the elephant in size, and of the appearance, color, and shape of a bull. Their strength and speed are extraordinary; they spare neither man nor wild beast which they have espied. These the Germans take with much pains in pits and kill them. The young men harden themselves with this exercise, and practice themselves in this sort of hunting, and those who have slain the greatest number of them, having produced the horns in public, to serve as evidence, receive great praise. But not even when taken very young can they be rendered familiar to men and tamed. The size, shape, and appearance of their horns differ much from the horns of our oxen. These they anxiously seek after, and bind at the tips with silver, and use as cups at their most sumptuous entertainments."

Replica of Chauvet cave art depicting aurochs, Woolly rhino, and wild horses

The ancient name of the Estonian town of Rakvere, Tarwanpe or Tarvanpea, probably derives from Auroch's head (Tarva pea) in ancient Estonian. The Hebrew Bible contains numerous references to the untameable strength of re'em,^[42] traditionally translated as "unicorn" but recognized for the last century as Aurochs ^[43][44]

When it got rarer, hunting an aurochs was a privilege of the nobility and a sign of a high social status. In the Nibelungenlied the killing of aurochs by Siegfried is described: “Darnach schlug er schiere einen Wisent und einen Elch, starker Ure viere und einen grimmen Schelch”,^[16] meaning "After that, he defeated one wisent and one elk, four aurochs and one Schelch". The background of the "Schelch" is dubious. Aurochs horns were commonly used as drinking horns by the nobility, which led to the fact that many aurochs horn sheaths are preserved till today (albeit often discoloured). Furthermore, there is a painting by Willem Kalf depicting an aurochs horn. The horns of the last Aurochs bulls, which died in 1620, were ornamented with gold and are located at the Livrustkammaren in Stockholm today.

Schneeberger writes that aurochs were hunted with arrows, nets and hunting dogs. With immobilized aurochs, a ritual was practised which might be regarded as cruel nowadays. Its curly hair on the forehead was cut from the skull of the living aurochs. Belts were made out of this, which were believed to increase the fertility of women. When the aurochs was slaughtered, a cross-like bone was extracted from the heart. This bone, present in domestic cattle as well, contributed to the mystique of the animal and magical powers have been attributed to it.^[8]

16th century illustration by Teodoro Ghisi, believed to show an aurochs. However, the horns are strikingly different from those of an aurochs

In eastern Europe, where the aurochs survived until most recent times, the aurochs has left traces in the phraseology. In Russia, a drunken person behaving badly when being drunk was specified as “behaving like an aurochs”, whereas in Poland, strong and big persons were characterized as being “a bloke like an aurochs”.^[45]

The ornamented horn of the last aurochs bull.

There are cultural references to the aurochs in Central Europe as well, especially as toponyms. For example, the names Ursenbach and Aurach am Hongar are derived from the aurochs and numerous emblems feature this wild bovine. An aurochs head, the traditional arms of the German region Mecklenburg, is included in the coat of arms of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The aurochs ("bour" in Romanian, probably derived from lat. bos urus → bourus → bour) was also the symbol of Moldavia; nowadays they can be found in the coat of arms of both Romania and Moldova. In nowadays Romania, there are villages named Boureni.The horn of the aurochs is a charge of the coat of arms of Tauragė, Lithuania (the name itself of Tauragė is derived from "tauras" and "ragas", meaning "auroch" and "horn"). It is also present in the emblem of Kaunas, Lithuania, and was part of the emblem of Bukovina during its time as a Kronland of Austria-Hungary. The Swiss Canton of Uri is named after the aurochs; its yellow flag shows a black aurochs head. East Slavic surnames Turenin, Turishchev, Turov, Turovsky originate from the East Slavic name of the species (Tur).^[46] In Slovakia there are toponyms like Turany, Turíčky, Turie, Turie Pole, Turík, Turová (villages), Turiec (river and region), Turská dolina (valley) and others. Turopolje, a large lowland floodplain south of the Sava river in Croatia, got its name after the once abundant aurochs (Croatian: tur).

A 3.5m high and 7.1m long Statue of an Aurochs was erected in Rakvere in 2002, for the town's 700th birthday. The sculpture, made by artist Tauno Kangro, has become a symbol of the town.^[47]

See also[link]

Paleontology portal

• Chillingham Cattle
• Ur (rune)
• Wisent
• Gaur
• Banteng

Notes[link]

This article incorporates Creative Commons CC-BY-2.5 text from reference.^[12]

References[link]

• American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition (AHD4). Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Headwords aurochs, urus, wisent.
• Bunzel-Drüke, M. 2001. Ecological substitutes for Wild Horse (Equus ferus Boddaert, 1785 = E. przewalslii Poljakov, 1881) and Aurochs (Bos primigenius Bojanus, 1827). Natur- und Kulturlandschaft, Höxter/Jena, 4, 10 p. AFKP. Online pdf (298 kB)
• C. Julius Caesar. Caesar's Gallic War. Translator. W. A. McDevitte. Translator. W. S. Bohn. 1st Edition. New York. Harper & Brothers. 1869. Harper's New Classical Library.
• International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. 2003. Opinion 2027 (Case 3010). Usage of 17 specific names based on wild species which are pre-dated by or contemporary with those based on domestic animals (Lepidoptera, Osteichthyes, Mammalia): conserved. Bull.Zool.Nomencl., 60:81–84.
• Merriam-Webster Unabridged (MWU). (Online subscription-based reference service of Merriam-Webster, based on Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002.) Headword aurochs. Accessed 2007-06-02.
• Shaffer, Jim G. (1995). Cultural tradition and Palaeoethnicity in South Asian Archaeology. In: Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia. Ed. George Erdosy. ISBN 81-215-0790-1
• Shaffer, Jim G. (1999). Migration, Philology and South Asian Archaeology. In: Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia. Ed. Bronkhorst and Deshpande. ISBN 1-888789-04-2.
• Vuure, T. van. 2002. History, morphology and ecology of the Aurochs (Bos primigenius). Lutra 45-1. Online pdf (603 kB)
• Vuure, C. van. 2005. Retracing the Aurochs: History, Morphology and Ecology of an Extinct Wild Ox. Pensoft Publishers. Sofia-Moscow.
• Wilson, Don E. and DeeAnn M. Reeder: Mammals.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aurochs

Wikispecies has information related to: Aurochs

• The Extinction Website - Aurochs (Bos primigenius primigenius)
• History of aurochs in Poland
• Breeding Back the Aurochs 2005, web-paper by student Magdalena Michalak at Bryn Mawr College, near Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
• The Aurochs is coming back to European forests and grasslands

Georges Brassens
Background information
Born	(1921-10-22)22 October 1921 Sète, France
Died	29 October 1981(1981-10-29) (aged 60) Saint-Gély-du-Fesc
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Acoustic guitar
Years active	1951–1981
Labels	Universal Music
Associated acts	Pierre Nicolas, sometimes Barthélémy Rosso, Joël Favreau

Georges Brassens (French pronunciation: [ʒɔʁʒ bʁasɛ̃s]), 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981), was a French singer-songwriter and poet.

Biography[link]

Brassens was born in Sète, a town in southern France near Montpellier. Now an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his elegant songs with their harmonically complex music for voice and guitar and articulate, diverse lyrics; indeed, he is considered one of France's most accomplished postwar poets. He has also set to music poems by both well-known and relatively obscure poets, including Louis Aragon (Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux), Victor Hugo (La Légende de la Nonne, Gastibelza), Jean Richepin, François Villon (La Ballade des Dames du Temps Jadis), and Guillaume Apollinaire, Antoine Pol (Les Passantes).

During World War II, he was forced by the Germans to work in a labor camp at a BMW aircraft engine plant in Basdorf near Berlin in Germany (March 1943). Here Brassens met some of his future friends, such as Pierre Onténiente, whom he called Gibraltar because he was "steady as a rock." They would later become close friends.

After being given ten days' leave in France, he decided not to return to the labour camp. Brassens took refuge in a slum called "Impasse Florimont," in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, where he lived for several years with its owner, Jeanne Planche, a friend of his aunt. Planche lived with her husband Marcel in relative poverty: without gas, running water, or electricity. Brassens remained hidden there until the end of the war five months later, but ended up staying for 22 years. Planche was the inspiration for Brassens's song Jeanne.

Apart from Paris and Sète, he lived first in Crespières (near Paris) and latterly in Lezardrieux (Brittany).

Biography[link]

Childhood[link]

Brassens grew up in the family home in Sète with his mother, Elvira Dagrosa, father, Jean-Louis, half-sister, Simone (daughter of Elvira and her first husband, who was killed in the war), and paternal grandfather, Jules. His mother, who came from southern Italy (Basilicata province), was a devout Roman Catholic, while his father was an easy-going, generous, openminded, anticlerical man. Brassens grew up between these two starkly contrasting personalities, who nonetheless shared a love for music. His mother—whom Brassens labelled a "missionary for songs" (militante de la chanson), Simone and Jules, were always singing. This environment imparted to Brassens a passion for singing that would come to define his life. At the time he listened constantly to his early idols: Charles Trenet, Tino Rossi, and Ray Ventura. He was said to love music above all else: it was his first passion and the path that led him to his career. He told his friend André Sève, "[It is] a kind of internal vibration, something intense, a pleasure that has something of the sensual to it." He hoped to enroll at a music conservatory, but his mother insisted that he could only do so if his grades improved. Consequently, he never learned to read music. A poor student, Brassens performed badly in school.

Alphonse Bonnafé, Brassens's ninth-grade teacher, strongly encouraged his apparent gift for poetry and creativity. Brassens had already been experimenting with songwriting and poetry. Bonnafé aided his attempts at poetry and pushed him to spend more time on his schoolwork, suggesting he begin to study classical poetry. Brassens developed an interest in versification and rhyme. By Brassens's admission, Bonnafé's influence on his work was enormous: "We were thugs, at fourteen, fifteen, and we started to like poets. That is quite a transformation. Thanks to this teacher, I opened my mind to something bigger. Later on, every time I wrote a song, I asked myself the question: would Bonnafé like it?" By this point, music had taken a slight backstage to poetry for Brassens, who now dreamed of being a writer.

Nonetheless, personal friendships and adolescence still defined Brassens in his teens. At age seventeen, he was implicated in a crime that would prove to be a turning point in his life. In order to make a little money, Georges and his gang decided to turn to small thefts whose principal victims were their respective families. Georges stole a ring and a bracelet from his sister. The police found and caught him, which caused a minor scandal. The young men were publicly characterized as "high school mobsters" or "scum". Some of the perpetrators, unsupported by their families, spent time in prison. While Brassens's father was more forgiving and immediately picked up his son, Brassens was expelled from school. He decided to move to Paris in February 1940, following a short trial as an apprentice mason in his father's business after World War II had already broken out.

Wartime[link]

Apprenticeship[link]

Brassens lived with his aunt Antoinette in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, where he taught himself to play piano. He began working at a Renault car factory. In May 1940 the factory was bombed, and France invaded by Germany. Brassens returned to the family home in Sète. He spent the summer in his home town, but soon returned to Paris, feeling that this was where his future lay. He did not work, since employment would serve only to profit the occupying enemy. Saddened by the lack of poetic culture, Brassens spent most of his days in the library. It was then that he set a pattern of rising at five in the morning, and going to bed at sunset – a pattern he maintained the greater part of his life. He meticulously studied the great masters: Villon, Baudelaire, Verlaine and Hugo. His approach to poetry was almost scientific. Reading, for instance, a poem by Verlaine, he dissected it image by image, attentive to the slightest change in rhythm, analysing the rhymes and the way they alternated. He drew on this enormous literary culture as wrote his first collection of poems, Des coups d’épée dans l’eau, whose conclusion foreshadowed the anarchism of his future songs:

Le siècle ou nous vivons est un siècle pourri.

Tout n'est que lâcheté, bassesse,

Les plus grands assassins vont aux plus grandes messes

Et sont des plus grands rois les plus grands favoris.

Hommage de l'auteur à ceux qui l'ont compris,

Et merde aux autres.

(The century we live in is a rotten century.

Nothing but cowardice and baseness.

The greatest murderers attend the greatest masses

And are the greatest favourites of the greatest kings.

Homage from the author to those who understood it,

And shit for the others.)

Brassens also published A la venvole in 1942, thanks to the money of his family and friends, and with the surprising help of a woman named Jeanne Planche, a neighbour of Antoinette, probably the first Brassens fan. Brassens later commented on his early works: "In those times, I was only regurgitating what I had learned reading the poets. I hadn't transformed it into honey yet."

Exile[link]

In March 1943, Brassens was requisitioned for the STO (Service de Travail Obligatoire: Obligatory Work Service) and was taken to Basdorf, Germany. He found time to write, but he stooped to easiness. It was nevertheless in Germany that he wrote Bonhomme and Pauvre Martin, along with more than a hundred songs, that were later either burned or frequently altered before they reached their final form (Le Mauvais sujet repenti). He also wrote the beginning of his first novel, Lalie Kakamou. In Germany, he met some of his best friends like Pierre Onténiente, whom he nicknamed "Gibraltar", because he was "firm as a rock." Onténiente later became his right-hand man and his private secretary.

A year after he arrived in Basdorf, Brassens was granted a ten day furlough. It was obvious to him and his new friends that he wouldn't come back. In Paris, he had to find a hideout, but he knew very few people. He had indeed led quite a lonely life in Paris, seeing only a friend from Sète and the girls. Finally, Jeanne Planche came to his aid and offered to put him up as long as necessary. Jeanne lived with her husband Marcel in a hovel at 9 impasse Florimont, with no gas, water or electricity. Brassens accepted... and stayed there for twenty two years. He once said on the radio: "I was nice there, and I have gained since then quite an amazing sense of discomfort." According to Pierre Onténiente: "Jeanne had a crush on Georges and Marcel knew nothing, as he started to get drunk at eight in the morning."

Anarchist influences[link]

Once put up at Jeanne Planche's, Georges had to stay hidden for five months, waiting for the war to come to an end. He continued writing poems and songs. He composed using as his only instrument a small piece of furniture that he called "my drum" on which he beat out the rhythm. He resumed writing the novel he started in Basdorf, for only now did he consider a career as a famous novelist. The end of World War II and the freedom suddenly regained didn't change his habits much, except that he got his library card back and resumed studying poetry.

The end of the war meant the homecoming of the friends form Basdorf, with whom Brassens planned to create an anarchist-minded paper, Le Cri des gueux (The villains' cry), which never came into being for lack of money. At the same time, he set up the "Prehistoric Party" with Emile Miramont (a friend from Sète nicknamed "Corne d'Auroch" –auroch's horn) and André Larue (whom he met in Basdorf), which advocated the return to a more modest way of life, but whose chief purpose was to ridicule the other political parties. After the failure of Le Cri des gueux, Brassens joined the Anarchist Federation and wrote some virulent, black humour tinged articles for Le Libertaire, the Federation's paper. But the extravagance of the future songwriter wasn’t to everybody’s taste, and he soon had to leave the Federation, albeit without resentment.

Brassens said in an interview: "I'm an anarchist, so much so that I always cross at the zebra crossing to avoid arguing with the police." He also said: "I'm not very fond of the law. As Léautaud would say, I could do without laws [...] I think most people couldn’t."

Career[link]

His friends who heard and liked his songs urged him to go and try them out in a cabaret, café or concert hall. He was shy and had difficulty performing in front of people. At first, he wanted to sell his songs to well-known singers such as "les frères Jacques". The owner of a cafe told him that his songs were not the type he was looking for. But at one point he met the singer Patachou in a very well-known cafe, Les Trois Baudets, and she brought him into the music scene. Several famous singers came into the music industry this way, including Jacques Brel and Léo Ferré. He later on made several appearances at the Paris Olympia under Bruno Coquatrix' management and at the Bobino music hall theater.

1964

He toured with Pierre Louki, who wrote a book of recollections entitled Avec Brassens (éditions Christian Pirot, 1999, ISBN 2-86808-129-0). After 1952, Brassens rarely left France. A few trips to Belgium and Switzerland; a month in Canada (1961, recording issued on CD in 2011) and another in North Africa were his only trips outside France – except for his concerts in Wales in 1970 and 1973 (Cardiff).^[1]

Songs[link]

Brassens rarely performed abroad. His lyrics are difficult to translate, though attempts have been made.^[2] He accompanied himself on acoustic guitar. Most of the time the only other accompaniment came from his friend Pierre Nicolas with a double bass, and sometimes a second guitar (Barthélémy Rosso, Joël Favreau).

His songs often decry hypocrisy and self-righteousness in the conservative French society of the time, especially among the religious, the well-to-do, and those in law enforcement. The criticism is often indirect, focusing on the good deeds or innocence of others in contrast. His elegant use of florid language and dark humor, along with bouncy rhythms, often give a rather jocular feel to even the grimmest lyrics.

Some of his most famous songs include:

• Les copains d'abord, about a boat of that name, and friendship, written for a movie Les copains (1964) directed by Yves Robert; (translated and covered by Asleep At The Wheel as "Friendship First" and by a Polish cover band Zespół Reprezentacyjny as "Kumple to grunt" and included on their 2007 eponymously titled CD).
• Chanson pour l'Auvergnat, lauding those who take care of the downtrodden against the pettiness of the bourgeois and the harshness of law enforcement.
• La Cane de Jeanne for Marcel and Jeanne Planche, who befriended and sheltered him and others.
• La mauvaise réputation – "the bad reputation" – a semi-autobiographical tune with its catchy lyric: "Mais les braves gens n'aiment pas que l'on suive une autre route qu'eux" (But the good folks don't like it if you take a different road than they do.)
• Les amoureux des bancs publics – about young lovers who kiss each other publicly and shock self-righteous people.
• Le gorille – tells, in a humorous fashion, of a gorilla with a large penis (and admired for this by ladies) who escapes his cage. Mistaking a robed judge for a woman, the beast forcefully sodomizes him. The song contrasts the wooden attitude that the judge had exhibited when sentencing a man to death by the guillotine with his cries for mercy when being assaulted by the gorilla. This song, considered pornographic, was banned for a while. The song's refrain (Gare au gori – i – i – i – ille, "beware the gorilla") is widely known; it was translated into English by Jake Thackray as Brother Gorilla, by Greek singer-songwriter Christos Thivaios as Ο Γορίλλας ("The Gorilla"), by Spanish songwriter Joaquín Carbonell as "El Gorila" ("The Gorilla"), by Italian songwriter Fabrizio De André as "Il Gorilla" ("The Gorilla" – FDA included this translation into his 1968 album "Volume III"), by a Polish cover band Zespół Reprezentacyjny as "Goryl" and by Israeli writer Dan Almagor as "הגורילה".
• Fernande – a 'virile antiphon' about the women lonely men think about to inspire self-gratification (or to nip it in the bud). Its infamous refrain (Quand je pense à Fernande, je bande, je bande..., `When I think about Fernande, I get hard') is still immediately recognized in France, and has essentially ended the use of several female first names.
• Supplique pour être enterré à la plage de Sète, a long song (7:18) describing, in a colourful, "live" and poetic way, his wish to be buried on a peculiar sandy beach in his hometown, "Plage de la Corniche".
• Mourir pour des idées, describing the recurring violence over ideas and an exhortation to be left in peace (translated into Italian by Italian singer-songwriter Fabrizio De André as "Morire per delle idee" and included in FDA's 1974 album "Canzoni" and by a Polish cover band Zespół Reprezentacyjny as "Śmierć za idee" and included on their 2007 CD "Kumple to grunt").

Brassens died of cancer in 1981, in Saint-Gély-du-Fesc, having suffered health problems for many years, and rests at the Cimetière le Py in Sète.

Legacy[link]

In recent years, more than 50 doctoral dissertations have been written about Georges Brassens. Many artists from Japan, Israel, Russia, the United States (where there is a Georges Brassens fan club), Italy and Spain have made cover versions of his songs. His songs have been translated into 20 languages, including Esperanto.

Many singers have covered Georges Brassens' lyrics in other languages, for instance Pierre de Gaillande, who translates Brassens' songs and performs them in English, Koshiji Fubuki in Japanese, Fabrizio De André (in Italian), Alberto Patrucco (in Italian), and Nanni Svampa (in Italian and Milanese), Graeme Allwright and Jake Thackray (in English), Sam Alpha (in creole), Yossi Banai (in Hebrew), Jiří Dědeček (in Czech), Mark Freidkin (in Russian), Loquillo, Paco Ibáñez, Javier Krahe, Joaquín Carbonell and Eduardo Peralta (in Spanish), Jacques Ivart (in esperanto), Franz Josef Degenhardt and Ralf Tauchmann (in German), Zespół Reprezentacyjny (they released 2 CDs of Brassens' songs in Polish) and Piotr Machalica (in Polish), Cornelis Vreeswijk (Swedish) and Tuula Amberla (in Finnish). Dieter Kaiser, a Belgian-German singer who performs in public concerts with the French-German professional guitarist Stéphane Bazire under the name Stéphane & Didier has translated into German language and gathered in a brochure 19 Brassens songs. He also translated among others the poem "Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux" of the French contemporary poet Louis Aragon. Franco-Cameroonian singer Kristo Numpuby also released a cover-album with the original French lyrics but adapted the songs to various African rhythms.

An international association of Georges Brassens fans exists and there is also a fan club in Berlin-Basdorf which organizes a Brassens festival every year in September.

Brassens composed about 250 songs, of which 200 were recorded, the other 50 remaining unfinished.

Renée Claude, an important Québécois singer, dedicated a tribute-album to him, J'ai rendez-vous avec vous (1993).

His songs have a major influence on many French singers across several generations, including Maxime Le Forestier, Renaud, Bénabar and others.

In 2008, the English folk-singer Leon Rosselson included a tribute song to Brassens, entitled "The Ghost of Georges Brassens", on his album A Proper State.

The song "À Brassens" ("To Brassens") from Jean Ferrat's album Ferrat was dedicated to Brassens.

Heritage sites[link]

Many schools, theatres, parks, public gardens, and public places are dedicated to Georges Brassens and his work, including:

• L'Espace Brassens in his hometown of Sète, a museum to his life.
• A park built on the site of the former Vaugirard horse market & slaughterhouses, was named parc Georges Brassens. Brassens lived a large part of his life about hundred metres from the slaughterhouses, at 9 impasse Florimont and then at 42 rue Santos Dumont. The park was inaugurated in 1975.
• A nearby station of Tram line 3 is also named in Brassens' honour.
• The Place du Marché of Brive-la-Gaillarde was renamed Place Georges Brassens, as a tribute to women that had had a clash here with the French gendarmerie, a clash he evoked in one of his songs, Hécatombe.
• In the Paris Métro station Porte des Lilas (Line 11) there is a mural portrait of Brassens along with a quote from his song "La Porte des Lilas", written for the 1957 film "Porte des Lilas" by René Clair. In this film, Brassens had a supporting role, practically playing himself.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Georges Brassens

• (English) Espace Brassens museum in Sète
• (French) Georges-Brassens.com
• (French) AnalyseBrassens.com
• Georges Brassens at the Internet Movie Database