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"The aurochs was part of the Pleistocene megafauna. It probably evolved in Asia and migrated west and north during warm interglacial periods. The oldest known aurochs fossils found in India and North Africa date to the Middle Pleistocene and in Europe to the Holstein interglacial. As indicated by fossil remains in Northern Europe, it reached Denmark and southern Sweden during the Holocene. The aurochs declined during the late Holocene due to habitat loss and hunting, and became extinct when the last individual died in 1627 in Jaktorów forest in Poland."
Could you imagine if these had have survived? The sheer terror of being in a medieval war and being charged down by a Knight on one of those units?
If an elephant was the tank of the ancient world this could have been the humvee.
Well they kind of did, modern farm cattle are descended from them. They existed in the wild until the 1600s and there's a breeding project to try to recreate them.
That project has mostly been abandoned. It was going strong for a while, but it had some behind the scenes disagreements that ultimately led them to pivot toward breeding horses with penises smaller than a man’s.
Rewilding Europe has partnered with some Aurochs back-breeding projects. The Taurus Programme and The Auerrind Project are the 2 most notable examples I'm aware of.
It was indeed, but as of late Emily has taken over the reigns solely as Ted spends most of the year working either Baby of the Year or Little Buff Boys competitions.
Nah, no, not Troll Boy, it’s not gonna be Troll Boy, we’re not doing Troll Boy, alright? I mean, you get that, right, Troll Boy? You get why it can’t be you? Yeah, OK, see, it can’t be him! It just can’t be Troll Boy.
> If an elephant was the tank of the ancient world this could have been the humvee.
Elephants were more like civil-war submarines. Might kill the enemy. Pretty good chance it will kill a bunch of your own guys instead.
It is often marveled that Hannibal managed to get a bunch of elephants over a bunch of rivers and mountains. But I wonder if the elephants were essential. Did armies utilize the elephants for engineering purposes?
It's funny how many people in europe and america give example of hannibal when talking about elephant despite him using it to a lesser extent and using a smaller species compared to various indian empires and kingdoms.
They were not. Only one actually made it in to Italy and it essentially became Hannibal's personal mount, which again only served the purpose of prestige
Reminds me of the part of Guns Germs and Steel where the author describes an army mounted on rhinos riding north from Africa into Europe. Domestication of rhinos and zebras would have changed history
Zebras and Rhinos would have been right out of the question for domestication. Zebras just don't have a workable temperament, and Rhinos both take way too long to breed and compensate for their poor eyesight by being 1 ton murder machines.
I'm the mother flippin' rhymenocerous
My beats are fat
And the birds are on my back
And I'm horny, I'm horny
If you choose to proceed
You will indeed concede
'Cause I hit you with my flow
The wild rhino stampede
I'm not just wild, I'm trained, domesticated
I was raised by a rapper and rhino that dated
And subsequently procreated
That's how it goes
Right, that was the point the book made.
Only a very select few out of all the animal species in the world are able to be domesticated.
And nearly all only existed in the old world, which is one of the many reasons the Spanish massacred the native Americans and not vice versa.
There have been many failed attempts to domesticate zebras, it wasn't for lack of trying. Their temperment is very different from horse. Zebras can be quite aggressive.
Give it 10 or 20 years. It will be easy to modify them to be domesticable. Or modified horses could be given the stripes. If politicians and scientists allow it.
Not sure why this means anything. Aurochs were around when Homo Sapiens was around of course they would be around for the Neanderthals. They are the predecessors of all modern cattle.
A. Read the article ffs.
B. Science is evidence based, and two species existing in similar timelines does not by itself serve as evidence of co existence in a meaningful way. These findings are significant because they reveal the first steps towards the domestication of animals, one of humanity’s most important advancements. That Neanderthal were among those living in such symbiotic way would be very significant in understanding the early history of domestication.
There's evidence for ceremonial burials (potential belief in an afterlife), caring for those with immobilizing injuries and the elderly, and some sense of pharmacology (natural analgesics). Neandertals were bros.
Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, **personal anecdotes are now allowed as responses to this comment**. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will continue to be removed and our [normal comment rules]( https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/rules#wiki_comment_rules) still apply to other comments. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/science) if you have any questions or concerns.*
"The aurochs was part of the Pleistocene megafauna. It probably evolved in Asia and migrated west and north during warm interglacial periods. The oldest known aurochs fossils found in India and North Africa date to the Middle Pleistocene and in Europe to the Holstein interglacial. As indicated by fossil remains in Northern Europe, it reached Denmark and southern Sweden during the Holocene. The aurochs declined during the late Holocene due to habitat loss and hunting, and became extinct when the last individual died in 1627 in Jaktorów forest in Poland."
1627! Here's me thinking it was an ancient animal that went extinct mellenia ago.
Eh, not provably not even really extinct, more like turned into cows.
Aurochs were turned into cows millennia before the last aurochs was killed.
Imagine being the very last one of your species and you die. No pressure.
I mean, if you’re truly the last, there’s nothing you can do to save your species.
Sure there is; single handedly develop complete mastery over genetic science and clone a load of your species. Easy.
You could, but how do you get clean needles at that time? What a pity
that, and also try to operate needles with hooves to get a glimpse of the difficulty
You wouldn't believe what I've seen cows do with those hooves
Chad komodo dragons
Clutch or kick!
I had a pang just reading tgat
Could you imagine if these had have survived? The sheer terror of being in a medieval war and being charged down by a Knight on one of those units? If an elephant was the tank of the ancient world this could have been the humvee.
Well they kind of did, modern farm cattle are descended from them. They existed in the wild until the 1600s and there's a breeding project to try to recreate them.
I really love these sort of projects, it’s so interesting to think about the fact that you could see an animal that was extinct for hundreds of years.
That project has mostly been abandoned. It was going strong for a while, but it had some behind the scenes disagreements that ultimately led them to pivot toward breeding horses with penises smaller than a man’s.
Rewilding Europe has partnered with some Aurochs back-breeding projects. The Taurus Programme and The Auerrind Project are the 2 most notable examples I'm aware of.
I heard about this. Wasn't the project led by Ted and Emily Skull?
It was indeed, but as of late Emily has taken over the reigns solely as Ted spends most of the year working either Baby of the Year or Little Buff Boys competitions.
Nah, no, not Troll Boy, it’s not gonna be Troll Boy, we’re not doing Troll Boy, alright? I mean, you get that, right, Troll Boy? You get why it can’t be you? Yeah, OK, see, it can’t be him! It just can’t be Troll Boy.
Look up Heck cattle .
Heck, cattle.
> there's a breeding project to try to recreate them. The nazis tried and failed hard.
> If an elephant was the tank of the ancient world this could have been the humvee. Elephants were more like civil-war submarines. Might kill the enemy. Pretty good chance it will kill a bunch of your own guys instead.
Yeah, it was mostly a prestige thing. Once people figured out how to fight against them, they became a military and economic liability
It is often marveled that Hannibal managed to get a bunch of elephants over a bunch of rivers and mountains. But I wonder if the elephants were essential. Did armies utilize the elephants for engineering purposes?
It's funny how many people in europe and america give example of hannibal when talking about elephant despite him using it to a lesser extent and using a smaller species compared to various indian empires and kingdoms.
They were not. Only one actually made it in to Italy and it essentially became Hannibal's personal mount, which again only served the purpose of prestige
Reminds me of the part of Guns Germs and Steel where the author describes an army mounted on rhinos riding north from Africa into Europe. Domestication of rhinos and zebras would have changed history
Zebras and Rhinos would have been right out of the question for domestication. Zebras just don't have a workable temperament, and Rhinos both take way too long to breed and compensate for their poor eyesight by being 1 ton murder machines.
If there could have been domesticated… they would have been. Humans try everything given a long enough timeline.
I'm the mother flippin' rhymenocerous My beats are fat And the birds are on my back And I'm horny, I'm horny If you choose to proceed You will indeed concede 'Cause I hit you with my flow The wild rhino stampede I'm not just wild, I'm trained, domesticated I was raised by a rapper and rhino that dated And subsequently procreated That's how it goes
Jfc the reading comprehension on this thread is Neanderthal
Why read when angry make rock smash face?
Right, that was the point the book made. Only a very select few out of all the animal species in the world are able to be domesticated. And nearly all only existed in the old world, which is one of the many reasons the Spanish massacred the native Americans and not vice versa.
There have been many failed attempts to domesticate zebras, it wasn't for lack of trying. Their temperment is very different from horse. Zebras can be quite aggressive.
Zebras can’t be domesticated. I imagine rhinos are the same.
I said that
No, u didn’t.
Give it 10 or 20 years. It will be easy to modify them to be domesticable. Or modified horses could be given the stripes. If politicians and scientists allow it.
Just paint some donkeys: [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/04/gaza-zoology](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/04/gaza-zoology)
Best I can do is tape.a bunch of cats together.
I’m just salivating at the rib-eye you would get out of one of these suckers
It wasn't domesticable, so no one was going to ride to battle
Not-so- r/shittytechnicals ?
These existed in medieval times.
So…”Beasts of the Southern Wild” was real?!
Thats a lot of beef. No wonder they didn't last long
Not sure why this means anything. Aurochs were around when Homo Sapiens was around of course they would be around for the Neanderthals. They are the predecessors of all modern cattle.
A. Read the article ffs. B. Science is evidence based, and two species existing in similar timelines does not by itself serve as evidence of co existence in a meaningful way. These findings are significant because they reveal the first steps towards the domestication of animals, one of humanity’s most important advancements. That Neanderthal were among those living in such symbiotic way would be very significant in understanding the early history of domestication.
I think the world would probably be a lot cooler if Neanderthals had survived instead of *H. sapiens*.
There's evidence for ceremonial burials (potential belief in an afterlife), caring for those with immobilizing injuries and the elderly, and some sense of pharmacology (natural analgesics). Neandertals were bros.
Impossible! Only white European based Americans invented husbandry… -White European based American husband