# Why are there no wild cows? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 30, 1999, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684 "1999-12-30T01:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/1 "1999-12-30T01:08:00Z")
OK so it’s a dumb question. But I just started thinking, there are wild horses, goats, dogs, cats, i think there are wild pigs, just about wild everything. But no wild cows. How did every cow in existance come to be a domestic cow. (NO jokes, please). Are there wild cows and I just not know about them? If a wild cow moo’s and there’s no one there to hear it…? * * * so you found a girl who thinks really deep thoughts. what’s so amazing about really deep thoughts? Tori Amos ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/2 "1999-12-30T01:11:00Z")
Seeing as they can breed with cows, I think the bison would qualify as a wild cow. One of the novelty events at many rodeos is “wild cow milking”. I don’t know where these wild cows come from though. ---
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/3 "1999-12-30T01:12:00Z")
Go to some places in India and you’ll see cows running around town like stray cats, getting fed everywhere they go. No “owners”, no manners either. ---
**Author:** ![Akatsukami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/4 "1999-12-30T01:29:00Z")
Let us begin by differentiating between _feral_ and _wild_ animals. Feral animals are those animals (and their descendants) that have reverted to an ownerless existence. Wild animals are those that have no domestic lineage. Thus, to pick a critter that is a Straight Dope® favorite, the common city pigeon (a/k/a "flying rat) is a feral animal, being descended from escaped domestic pigeon. The rock dove, OTOH, considered the wild progenitor of the pigeon, is deemed in danger of having its gene pool swamped by its feral cousins. Now, what of the wild cow? Well, it’s extinct, probably due to a combination of hunting and habitat destruction. Without living specimens for DNA comparison, etc., we cannot be 100% certain, but the overwhelming probability is the wild ancestor of domestic cattle was the _aurochs_ (“ur”, or “original ox”), formerly abundant in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. I’ve seen various representations and reconstructions of these brutes, and, believe me, they would _not_ have been on my list of the Top One Thousand Animals to Domesticate. I suppose that most people would find watching over the herds of dormice inexcusably wimpy, though. * * * “Kings die, and leave their crowns to their sons. Shmuel HaKatan took all the treasures in the world, and went away.” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/5 "1999-12-30T01:40:00Z")
There are hundreds of thousands of McDonald’s restaurants around the world, serving millions of burgers a day; and they are willing to put **anything, and I do mean ANYTHING** between 'dem buns. YOU DO THE MATH! * * * “Show me a sane man, and I will cure him for you.”----Jung ---
**Author:** ![kuwatto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6a8cbe/32.png) [@kuwatto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kuwatto)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/6 "1999-12-30T01:41:00Z")
cuz cows are dumber than s%%t ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/7 "1999-12-30T04:03:00Z")
While there are no wild cows per se (cows have been too long domesticated to resemble their forefathers), there are wild bovines. Water buffalo, bison, yaks, and I’m sure others I’m forgetting are all cousins to the milk giving moo-cow. * * * “I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/8 "1999-12-30T04:11:00Z")
Oh, cows. . .then I guess you wouldn’t be interested in any of my wild- **ass** guesses. Ray (Sorry) ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/9 "1999-12-30T13:01:00Z")
Actually we did this a couple of months ago. I’ll try to dig up the thread. Meanwhile, off the top of my head Saudi Arabia and some African countries claim they have wild cows but I think “feral” is a more exact translation. A site with a list of the various breeds and other info. [http://www.tc.umn.edu/~puk/cow/cowworld.html](http://www.tc.umn.edu/~puk/cow/cowworld.html) ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/10 "1999-12-30T13:24:00Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/003598.html](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/003598.html) There is the previous thread, not much more information for you there though. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/11 "1999-12-30T14:10:00Z")
Thanks funneefarmer. Just to cover my ass- I did a search in the forum and found nothing. Am I cursed or does this happen often to others? * * * so you found a girl who thinks really deep thoughts. what’s so amazing about really deep thoughts? Tori Amos ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/12 "1999-12-30T14:27:00Z")
\*psycat90: Thanks funneefarmer. Just to cover my ass- I did a search in the forum and found nothing. Am I cursed or does this happen often to others? \* You’re not paranoid. The forum search is buggy for everyone. * * * Everybody got to elevate from the norm - Rush ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/13 "1999-12-30T15:14:00Z")
As Akatsukami wrote, the wild ancestors of domestic cows were aurochs, which were once common in Europe and Central Asia. Genuine aurochs are now extinct (the last known ones lived in a Polish forest in the 16th century). However, some breeders have “recreated” aurochs by selectively breeding domestic cows for auroch-like traits. But without the genuine article to compare it to, no one knows how accurate a reproduction these animals are. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/14 "1999-12-30T15:38:00Z")
“Go to some places in India and you’ll see cows running around town like stray cats, getting fed everywhere they go. No ‘owners’, no manners either.” I know I’m hijacking the thread, but this reminds me of something I read the other day on a railway-accidents website. The author claimed that the Hindu religion so reveres, and abhors injury to, cows that once a Hindu engineer, faced with a cow standing on the tracks as his passenger train came around a blind turn at a good speed, applied the brakes full power (knowing the train would likely derail at that speed on a curve) rather than “risk the bad karma” (as the author put it) of hitting the cow. That story just sounds ever so fishy to me, on so many levels! Does anyone here know what the Hindu belief or doctrine really is on a situation where one has to choose between a cow’s life and the lives of one or more people? ---
**Author:** ![N\_oR\_jVIaL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@N\_oR\_jVIaL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N_oR_jVIaL)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 1999, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/15 "1999-12-31T06:20:00Z")
I think the reason that there are no more “wild cows” is because a cow is worth a few hundred dollars, dead or alive, and can’t run very fast. ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/16 "1999-12-30T19:34:00Z")
Don’t worry about it psycat, as AWB II said the forum search has been toast for almost as long as I’ve been here. The previously mentioned site has close to a thousand breeds of cows listed. They can pretty much breed for any trait they want yet my guess is that none are exactly the same as the historic auroch. There just seems like there are to many variables to put them all back together properly. But say you had some frozen DNA in the alps… ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/17 "1999-12-30T19:42:00Z")
I’m tempted to start a new thread on this. Where do the “wild milk cows” used in rodeos come from? If you’re unfamiliar with the event, go here: [http://amarillonet.com/sports/rodeo111596.html](http://amarillonet.com/sports/rodeo111596.html) ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/18 "1999-12-30T19:48:00Z")
You can breed for docility, or lack thereof, just like any other trait. In fact sometimes I believe my father aims for it just to bug me, or maybe just to keep me on my toes. Some breeders make big money just for breeding rodeo animals, though the big money is for bull riding steers. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/19 "1999-12-30T22:25:00Z")
> [@](#): > > the big money is for bull riding steers. Now, that would be a rodeo worth seeing!! How do they get the bull to hold still while the steer gets on? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 1999, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-wild-cows/5684/20 "1999-12-30T22:33:00Z")
Well, you sneak up behind him with a pair of vise grips, slip them in between his legs and…