An animal of the bovid family is an artiodactyl of the bovid family. Bovids An excerpt characterizing the Bovids
(Bovidae)**
* * The family of bovids, or bulls, is the largest and most diverse group of artiodactyls, including 45-50 modern genera and about 130 species.
Bovids form a natural, clearly defined group. No matter how close deer are to bovids, they differ from them in the structure and development of their antlers, which tend to fall off every year, grow again and branch out more and more. “Bovids,” says Blasius, “have cone-shaped sharpened bone growths on the forehead, which are surrounded by a horny sheath; these bone growths constantly grow in length, and at the base and in width. As they grow, new horny layers are constantly formed on this bone stump, for which the old layers serve as a kind of case. And in hollow antlers, a new horny mass separates the old layers of the antlers from the bone growth, but these old layers do not fall off, as in deer, since the cone-shaped appearance of the surface of the old horny layers prevents this. The annual layers on the antlers are noticeably wavy grooves. The horny substance does not grow the same all year round. The annual increase also varies depending on age; the older the animal, the less the annual increase is."***.
* * * Due to seasonal uneven growth, “annual rings” are visible on the horns of some artiodactyls, allowing one to determine the age of the animal.
Other characteristics of this family can be the dental system: all bovid animals have six incisors and two canines only on the lower jaw; there are no front teeth on the upper jaw; on each side of the jaws, above and below, we find six molars. The zygomatic arch is very dense.
Apart from the dental system and horns it is difficult to find general signs, characteristic of all bovids. The structure of their body is very diverse; this family includes both thick and massive animals and light and graceful ones. The shape of the horns and hooves, the length of the tail, hair and coloring are very different; lacrimal dimples are sometimes present, sometimes not; the tip of the muzzle is covered with hair or bare - in a word, upon closer examination of these animals you notice many distinctive features*.
* Unlike deer, bovids never have upper canines; the molars have a higher crown and a more complex chewing surface. The number of fingers is sometimes reduced to two.
The lifestyle of bovids is as varied as their appearance. They are distributed throughout the earth, with the exception of South America and Australia**; Many species are found in all zones of the globe and in a wide variety of places: in arid deserts and in tropical forests rich in vegetation, in swampy plains and in high mountains.
* * Being numerous and diverse in Africa and Eurasia, bovids in limited numbers penetrated into North America only in the Pleistocene, crossing the Beringian land. Now only 5-6 species from 4 genera (subfamilies Caprinae and Bovinae) are found here. Bovids never reached South America and Australia, as well as many islands and archipelagos. In Russia 12 wild species bovids from 8 genera.
Most live in herds. Almost everyone has well-developed mental abilities. Many species are distinguished by their intelligence, but some, on the contrary, are naturally very stupid. They reproduce quite quickly, although the female brings one cub at a time, less often two, as an exception - three, and only in rare cases - four. Young animals do not differ in growth and development from other ruminants. They are born developed and, for the most part, within a few hours after birth, they can follow their parents along the most dangerous places. In many species, growth continues for several years, but in most, the young are capable of reproduction within a year, and this explains the rapid increase in the number of individuals in individual herds of ruminants.
Bovids are more important to humans than all other ruminants. Between them, man chose the most necessary domestic animals; from them we get a significant part of our food and clothing material; Without them, it would be impossible for a person to live today. Even wild species of this family, enjoying unlimited freedom, do much more good than harm. Almost without exception, everyone provides us with delicious meat, skin, wool and horns. All wild bovids are considered game animals. In addition to humans, these animals also have other enemies, but even more often than from violent death, they die from hunger and various diseases that are very common among them.
Bulls are large, strong and clumsy ruminants, the signs of which are mainly more or less round and smooth horns, a wide muzzle with nostrils far apart from each other, a long tail reaching the heel joint with a brush at the end, the absence of lacrimal pits and intercoffin glands; females have an udder with four teats. Most have a saggy dewlap or fold of skin on the top of the neck. The skeleton consists of very rough and thick bones. The skull is wide at the forehead and slightly narrowed towards the muzzle; round eye sockets are located on the sides of the skull far from one another; the frontal processes on which the horns sit extend laterally from the back of the frontal bone. The structure of the teeth is nothing special. On each jaw, the largest are the internal incisors, the front ones are usually small, while the back ones are very developed. The horns widen at the root and therefore can cover almost the entire forehead, but in most they leave it open. The horns are smooth, rounded and have transverse wrinkles only at the base; they bend differently: outward or inward, backward or forward, up or down, or have a lyre shape. The hairline is short and lies smoothly against the skin, but on some parts of the body it can lengthen in the form of a mane.
The homeland of bulls should be considered all of Europe and Africa, Middle and South Asia, as well as North America; Currently, domesticated species are distributed in all parts of the globe. In the wild, bulls inhabit a wide variety of areas; some live in dense forests, others among the free steppes, some on the plains, others in the mountains, where they reach heights of up to 6000 m. Some species prefer swampy areas and swamps, others - drier places. Those who live in the mountains descend into the valleys in winter; those living in the north move south; in other areas they move from one place to another, richer in vegetation. Without exception, all species live in societies and gather in herds led by strong and experienced animals. Old males usually separate and live as hermits.
Although bulls appear clumsy and slow, they are able to move quickly and show much more agility than one might expect. They usually move at a slow pace, but they trot and sometimes turn into an extremely clumsy gallop, which speeds up their movement to a significant extent. Species living in mountains climb masterfully. All bulls swim easily and well, some can cross the widest rivers without fear. They have extraordinary strength, and their endurance is amazing. Of the sense organs, smell is the most developed, hearing is also good, vision is not particularly strong. Wild ones show much more intelligence than domesticated ones, who do not need to strain their mental strength. They are meek and trusting of animals, which are not dangerous to them and do not bother them. But they are extremely fierce, stubborn and extremely courageous. Irritated, they rush, despising death, at predatory animals, even the strongest, and with such dexterity they know how to use their terrible weapon- horns and hooves, which often remain winners. In general, peaceful with each other, at certain periods, especially during the mating period, they enter into battles, showing great ferocity. Their voice is a clear or dull moo or resembles grunting and grumbling, which is heard mainly when they are excited.
The food of bulls consists of plants. They eat leaves and tender buds, shoots and branches of a wide variety of trees, grasses and cereals, tree bark, mosses and lichens, marsh and aquatic plants, even sharp cutting sedge and reed plants. In captivity they also feed on plant matter. Salt is a delicacy for everyone, water is an urgent need; many enjoy wallowing in muddy swamps or lying in rivers and ponds for hours.
Mating is preceded by fierce battles between bulls; 9-12 months later, the cow calves one calf, very rarely two. The calf is born fully developed and is almost immediately able to follow its mother. She treats him with great tenderness, feeds and cleans him, licks and caresses him, and in case of danger protects him from any attack with great courage; in some species, males also guard the young.
All types of bulls can be tamed and obey, more or less willingly, people, get used to their masters, love and recognize them, go to their call and obey even a weak child.
Hunting for wild bulls is dangerous. A particularly formidable opponent is the irritated bull, whose blind rage knows no bounds. But it is precisely because of the danger that this hunt seems attractive to many; some peoples value it especially highly. Hunting wild bulls brings in considerable income; people use not only their skin, but also their meat, which, despite its often musky odor, serves as excellent food.
Bulls living in the wild only harm humans except by gnawing trees and bushes in forests, destroying grass in meadows and various plantations on plantations; tamed ones, on the contrary, benefit with their strength, meat and bones, skin and horns, milk, wool and even dung. In the west of Russia there is a unique treasure. This is the famous Belovezhskaya Pushcha, a real northern primeval forest covering an area of 2000 square kilometers. It is isolated and, like an island, surrounded by fields, villages and moorland. There is only one village in the forest, which has the same name as the forest, but is inhabited not by cultivators, but by foresters and rangers. About four-fifths of the forest area consists of pine trees, which retain exclusive dominance over a large area. In damper places, spruce, oak, linden, hornbeam, birch, alder, poplar and willow trees appear. B. this forest is home to the greatest European mammal - bison(Bison bonasus). Only here and in some forests of the Caucasus, as well as in Mięzercitz in Silesia, this powerful animal has been preserved at the present time; on the rest of the earth's surface it has already been exterminated. IN Belovezhskaya Pushcha it is protected by strict laws, and if for many centuries the changing owners of this amazing menagerie had not provided the bison with such protection, then by our time the bison could only be found in the Caucasus.
In former times things were, of course, different; it can be proven that the bison was distributed throughout Europe and large parts of Asia. In times of prosperity Ancient Greece he was often found in what is now Bulgaria; in central Europe it was found almost everywhere. Aristotle calls it “bonassus” and makes an accurate description; Pliny gives it under the name “bison” and considers Germany to be its homeland. Ancient written monuments mention him in the 6th and 7th centuries after the birth of Christ, and the “Song of the Nibelungs” says that he lives in the Vosges. During the time of Charlemagne, the bison was found in the Harz and Saxony; around the year 1000, according to Ekkegaard, this wild animal was found near St. Gallen. Around 1373, he lived in Pomerania, in the 15th century in Prussia, in the 16th century in Lithuania, in the 18th century in eastern Prussia, where in 1755 the last representative of this species was killed by a poacher.
The kings and magnates of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were zealously involved in the protection of bison. They were kept in special gardens and parks, for example, near Ostroleka, Warsaw and Zamoysk. The increasing population and cultivation of the fields made such protection impossible in the course of time; The bison remained for some time in Prussian Lithuania, where foresters protected them by setting up open sheds with food in winter. They were usually caught then as gifts to foreign courts. So, in 1717, two bison were delivered to the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and the same number to the English King George. The widespread rinderpest at the beginning of the 18th century destroyed most of these herds. There is no doubt that the bison living in Belovezhskaya Pushcha would have suffered the same fate if the Polish kings and then the Russian emperors had not protected an animal rare in the modern world.
According to information that came to me through the late Count Lazar, the bison lived longer than in Prussia in Hungary, in wooded Transylvania. This is also indicated by the fact that the names of some mountains, streams and even villages contain the word “bison”. In the Turech Chronicle, which was printed under King Matthew I, there are richly decorated initial letters; on one of these decorations we see the Hungarian king on horseback, with a crown on his head; he swings a high-raised spear at a madly racing bison. During the time of the Transylvanian princes, the bison was often found there, and it is quite confirmed that even in the 17th century its skin was used for various products. As proven, he lived in the mountain forests of Hungary as early as 1729 and at the end of the last century was found in the mountain forests of Szekler, not far from the area of Füle*.
* The range of the bison in the Middle Bek covered Central and Eastern Europe from Germany and Hungary to the Don basin and the Caucasus. Wild bison survived for the longest time in the Caucasus and in the area of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. By the 20s of the 20th century it disappeared from nature. 45 animals of the nominate subspecies are preserved in zoos, mainly in Poland. As a result of restoration work in captivity (including absorptive crossing with bison), the bison was saved as a species and returned to some of its former habitats in nature reserves in Poland and former USSR. In the Moscow region there is a nursery at the Prioksko-Terrasny Nature Reserve; groups of bison have been reacclimatized in the Caucasus, in the Carpathians, and brought to the Tien Shan. Now there are about 1.5 thousand animals in the world.
Although it is safe to admit that the bison has decreased in stature, it is still a powerful animal. The bison killed in Prussia in 1555 was 7 feet high and 13 feet long, weighing 19 hundredweight and 5 pounds. Currently, the largest bison rarely reaches a height of 1.7 m, a length of 3.4 m, and a weight of 500-700 kg*.
* The height of bulls at the withers is up to 2 m, weight is up to 850 kg. Cows can be half the weight.
The bison appears to us as an example of primitive strength and power. His head is moderately large and not only not awkward, but rather slender, the forehead is high and very wide, the bridge of the nose is slightly arched, the front part is evenly narrowed towards the end. The muzzle is wide and ugly; it occupies the entire space between the large, round, obliquely located nostrils; the ears are short and rounded, the eyes are rather small, the edges of the eye sockets protrude above the cheeks; a very strong, short and raised neck forms a dewlap. On strong, but not short legs, equipped with large oval hooves and rather small calloused toes, rests a massive body: the back rises significantly from the back of the head to the middle, from where it falls to the sacrum; the tail is short and thick. The horns are spaced far apart from each other, not too thick, round and sharp; they bend slightly forward, then inward and backward. The body is covered with thick fur, consisting of long, mostly curled awn hairs and felt-like undercoat. This fur lengthens at the back of the head into a wide bang, consisting of smooth hair and falling on the forehead and temples; on the back the hair forms a high ridge; on the chin a long and rather thin beard hangs down. Covers the neck and chest big mane. The whole face is covered thick hair; the auricles are shaggy at the edges; at the end of the tail there is a wide and long brush, descending almost to the heel joint. The general color of the fur is light brown, the beard and tail brush are black, the legs are dark brown, the bangs are light brown. A cow's build is noticeably smaller and thinner than a bull, her horns are weaker, her mane is less developed; the coloring, however, is the same. A newly born calf is lighter in color**.
* * The bison differs from the bison in its larger size. but at the same time with a lighter physique. He doesn't have that much big head, set much higher, longer and thinner horns, arched back profile, more developed rear part of the body. The legs are noticeably higher, the tail is longer. The coat is more uniform in length and a uniform brown color. In the diet higher value branches and leaves play (in total, bison consume more than 200 plants).
Until recently, the question: whether the wild bull living in the Caucasus Mountains belongs to the same species as the bison remained unresolved. We have so far received little information about this animal. More than 200 years ago, Archangel Lamberti only mentioned, albeit rumored, the existence of a “wild buffalo” on the border of Mingrelia. At the end of the last century, Gyldenstedt found 14 bison skulls in a cave in the Caucasus. At the beginning of our century, Eichwald collected news about the whereabouts of the remaining wild bulls. But only Baer could, on the basis of the skin sent to him by Baron von Rosan in 1836, make sure that the Caucasian wild bull and bison belonged to the same species. Since then there have been many reports of the wild bull of the Caucasus. And in 1868, a young male bison was caught there and taken to the Moscow Zoological Garden. Thus, it has been established that our European wild bull - the bison - also has another habitat and can be considered insured against extermination, at least in the near future.
Nordmann, Tornau and Radde meanwhile provided further information about the existence and lifestyle of the Caucasian bison, as well as about hunting for them. Nordman testified at the end of the thirties that the bison is no longer found near the mountain road from Taman to Tiflis, but that it is often found inside the mountain ranges of the Caucasus; its permanent habitat is a space of at least 200 kilometers along the coast of the Kuban to the source of the Bzybi. Relying on oral communications Tornau, he talks about one Caucasian hunt for bison in the Bolshoi Zelenchuk valley and notes that these animals are found not only on the indicated river, but also in the rocky, gorged valleys of Urup and Bolshaya Laba, as well as in the coniferous forests of the Main Range below the line of the eternal snow. Radde informs Brandt, from whose work I borrowed the following news about bison, that back in 1865, bison lived in the vast pine forests west of the Maruhi glacier, which were found there in herds of 7-10 heads. Tornau, who lived for three years in the mountains as a captive of the mountaineers and was present during the hunt for bison, often saw the camp of these animals and the paths they made even on the steepest cliffs in order to move from the rocky valley to the stream where they could quench their thirst. Once on Zelenchuk he heard a loud noise coming from the stomping of a herd of bison and breaking branches, and soon saw up to 20 cows and calves following a huge bull, walking importantly with his head down; they were all heading to the usual watering hole*.
* The last bison of a special Caucasian subspecies (B. b. caucasicus), distinguished by very dark curly hair and some other features, were exterminated by poachers in 1925 - 1927 in the Teberda region. Now in Teberdi and other parks and reserves of the Caucasus live herds of bison, Belovezhsky in origin, as well as bison. Sedentary on the plains, in the mountains bison make vertical migrations, rising in the summer to 2000 m above sea level.
The number of bison in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, according to the census, in 1829 reached 711 heads, among which there were 633 old bulls; the next year the herd increased to 772 heads, but then decreased again to 657 due to the Polish rebellion that took place during these years. Subsequently, the strengthening of protective laws favored their reproduction so much that in 1857 the number of all bison living in Belovezhskaya Pushcha was 1898. But according to other sources, in 1863 there were only 874 bison in the herd, and since then their number has constantly fluctuated from 800 to 900 heads; there are currently up to 1,500 bulls, according to Freese.
In 1865, Prince von Plese made an attempt to settle bison on the Ples estate in Silesia, in a park of more than 600 hectares. One bull and three cows were brought from Belovezhye by rail, which got along well and even multiplied in the new place. Later, in 1871, the animals were transferred to the Metsertsitsa forest. According to Friese, in 1889 there were already 11 bison there, although nine bulls were shot during this time.
In summer and autumn, the bison lives in damp places of the forest, usually hidden in thickets; in winter it prefers drier and higher forests. Very old bulls live alone, younger ones roam in small herds, 16-20 in summer, and 30-50 in winter. Each herd has its own permanent camp and always returns to it.
Bison are active both day and night; they graze most readily in the morning and evening, sometimes even at night. Their food consists of various grasses, leaves, buds and tree bark: they gnaw off the bark from the trees as much as they can and bend young flexible trunks to the ground in order to reach the top of the head, which they completely destroy. Their favorite tree seems to be the ash, the succulent bark of which they prefer to all others; coniferous trees, on the contrary, they do not touch. In winter, they eat almost exclusively the bark and branches of deciduous trees available to them, in addition to lichens and dry grass. In Belovezhskaya Pushcha, hay cut in the meadows is stored in stacks for them; but they, not content with this, raid the haystacks of neighboring villages, breaking the fences in the process. They need fresh water to drink.
At first glance, the movements of the bison seem heavy and clumsy, but upon closer inspection, you will notice that they are quite agile.
Bison walk at a fast pace, run at a heavy but fast gallop, with their heads lowered to the ground, and their tail raised and extended*.
* Bison can jump up to 3 m in length and up to 2 m in height.
They easily wade or swim across swamps and rivers. Among the external senses, smell occupies first place; vision and hearing are less developed, and taste and touch are only mediocre. The character of bison changes over the years. Young animals are cheerful, lively, playful creatures; although they are not very meek and peace-loving, they are still not evil. The old, on the contrary, have a gloomy, even ferocious disposition; they become irritable and not in the mood for any games. Although bison usually do not touch people who do not bother them, the slightest reason can awaken their anger and make them extremely dangerous. In the summer they try to avoid people, in the winter they do not give way to anyone, and it happened more than once that the peasants had to wait a long time until the bison wanted to leave the path it occupied, along which no one could pass. Wildness, stubbornness and temper are the hallmarks of these bulls. The younger ones are more shy and fearful than the older ones. Old animals living as hermits can become a true scourge of the country. They seem to take special pleasure in teasing people. One old leader bull took possession of the road passing through the Belovezhsky Forest for some time, overturned carriages more than once and caused many other misfortunes. The horses show fear and horror in front of the bison from afar and, sensing it, try to run away.
The mating period, which usually begins in August, and sometimes only in September, lasts two or three weeks. Around this time, bison are in their best condition, fat and strong. Before mating, they play some kind of games, and there are serious battles between bulls. The animal, mad with love, seems to take special pleasure in tearing out not very thick trees from the ground and felling them. Then they begin to fight, at first, perhaps, only jokingly, then more and more seriously, and finally they madly rush at each other and clash their horns in such a way that one can only be surprised how both of them do not get hurt from such a strong blow. Little by little, the hermits gather in herds, and the fights now become even more terrible, the younger and weaker bull must either retreat or die. In 1827, a dead three-year-old bull with a crushed leg and a horn broken off at the root was found in the Belovezhsky Forest. Not only bulls were found dead at this time, but also cows*.
* During the rut, the bull has a “harem” of 2-6 females with him.
Immediately after the end of the mating period, the old bulls again separate from the herd and return to their former quiet, solitary life. Cows calve nine months after mating, usually in May or early June. Before this, they retire, find a convenient place somewhere deep in the forest and hide here with the calf for several days. In case of danger, they defend their offspring with extraordinary courage. The calf presses to the ground, raises its ears and turns them, opens its nostrils and eyes wide and fearfully looks at the enemy, towards whom the mother is rushing. Then it is dangerous for both man and beast to approach the female bison - she bravely goes against any enemy. For several days after birth, the calf follows its mother, who treats it with extraordinary tenderness. While he still does not know how to walk properly, she gently pushes him forward with her head and tries to protect him from cold and danger, placing him between her front legs; licks it clean every day; during feeding, it stands on three legs to make it easier for the calf to reach the udder, and while it sleeps, it protects its safety. Calves are the cutest, graceful animals, although from their youth they show the makings of character. They develop very slowly and reach full growth probably only in the eighth or ninth year**.
* * The weight of a newborn is about 22 kg, lactation lasts 5-6 months (sometimes up to a year), but the calf begins to eat grass from 2-3 weeks. Sometimes the calf remains with its mother for up to 2 years, despite the fact that, under favorable conditions, the female brings new offspring next spring. Puberty occurs at 1.5-2 years, but animals reach their final size by 5-8 years. Maximum life expectancy is about 40 years.
The age to which bison can live is determined to be approximately 30-50 years. Cows die 10 years earlier than bulls, but the latter usually become blind or lose teeth in old age, then they are no longer able to feed properly, cannot bite young branches, quickly weaken and finally die.
Compared to other bulls, bison reproduce slowly. In Belovezhskaya Pushcha, they conducted an observation and found out that cows are pregnant once every three years, and at a more mature age they remain infertile for several years in a row. In 1829, out of 258 cows, only 93 calved; of the rest, most were already infertile, while others were still too young.
These strong animals are excellent at defending themselves against enemies. Bears and wolves can only be dangerous to calves, and then only if for some reason the mother is no longer alive and the cub is defenseless. However, it happens when it falls out deep snow, hungry wolves chase adult bison until exhaustion and finally defeat them.
Even in the time of Julius Caesar, a hunter who killed one aurochs or bison acquired great fame; all ancient songs praise such heroes. In the Middle Ages, knights and barons fought valiantly against bison and aurochs. Some hunted on horseback, others on foot, but they always chose the spear as their weapon of attack. Two of them went out to confront the beast: one approached the mad beast, the other tried to distract the bison’s attention from the attacker by shouting and waving a red scarf and attracting it to himself; at this time the first one thrust a spear into the body of the animal. Ordinary hunters, in order to take possession of a powerful animal, built a deep hole on its path and killed the bison that fell into it.
According to the legends with which the history of Hungary and Transylvania is so rich, bison hunting was the most militant activity of the Magyar knighthood and the nobility of neighboring countries. During the time of the first Hungarian kings, hunting became the exclusive right of the king or sovereign prince. There are many posts on this topic. “In the same year (1534), says one German manuscript, wild bulls, known in Hungary as Begin or Beogin, living in herds in the Zhurzhevo mountains in the Szekler country, caused a lot of harm and attacked men and women who went into the forest. Therefore, Moylar Istvan, according to ancient custom, called the old commanders for a big hunt on St. Fabian's day. Then many gentlemen and nobles gathered, who hunted successfully and also feasted decently." And 100 years later they were hunting with the same pomp, as can be seen from the letter of George Racoca I, Prince of Transylvania to Paul Bornemisser in 1643.
In Belovezhskaya Pushcha, the rulers of past centuries appeared with a large retinue, convened forest rangers and forced the surrounding peasants to become beaters. A detachment of 200-300 people had to drive the bison to the place where the hunters stood on a safe platform. One brilliant hunt, organized by the Polish king Augustus III in 1752, is still evidenced by a six-meter pyramid of white sandstone with an inscription in German and Polish; in one day 42 bison, 13 elk and two roe deer were killed; only one queen shot 20 bison without missing even once. On the eighteenth and nineteenth of October 1860, the Russian emperor organized a hunt: the sovereign himself shot six bison bulls and one calf, two elk and six fallow deer, three roe deer, four wolves, one badger, one fox and one hare. The Grand Duke of Weimar and Princes Karl and Albrecht of Prussia killed eight more bison. This hunt was described in detail in a special essay in Russian.
D. V. Dolmatov, chief forester of the state forests of the Grodno province, tells how these animals were caught. The Emperor promised Queen Victoria two bison for the menagerie and therefore ordered several heads to be caught. This was in July. At dawn, 300 beaters and 80 hunters gathered with guns loaded with gunpowder alone and surrounded the hunted herd. Dolmatov and his companion, Count Kiselev, who brought the royal order, saw a herd that was located on a hill. The calves jumped merrily, throwing up the sand high with their nimble legs, returning from time to time to their mothers, rubbing against them, licking them, and then jumping merrily again. Suddenly the sound of a horn interrupted this idyll. The herd jumped up in fear, the calves timidly clung to their mothers. When the barking of the dogs was heard, the herd hastily gathered in the usual order: the calves were in front, and the adults formed a rear guard, protecting them from the attacks of the dogs. The old bison broke through the chains of the beaters and rushed further, not paying attention to the people, screams and shots. I was immediately lucky enough to catch two young bison: a calf about three months old was captured without much difficulty; another, about fifteen months old, knocked eight people to the ground and ran away, but, pursued by dogs, was caught in the garden of a forester. Four calves, one male and three females, were caught later, one female was only a few days old.
I saw bison in the menagerie in Schönbrunn. They lived for many years in the same stable, in front of which there was a yard fenced with thick logs. Very strong oak fence posts, dug a meter into the ground and, moreover, reinforced with supports, were fastened with crossbars. When I visited, the cow had a suckling calf, and she expressed concern for him with all her behavior. To get a better look at the rare animals, I came closer to the fence, when suddenly the cow lowered its head and rushed at me, mooing and sticking out its long tongue far, and threw its head against the beams with such force that even the oak pillars shook. Another creature would have crushed its skull with such a blow: the bison, without the slightest difficulty, repeated its exercises three or four times in a row.
In our zoological gardens, with favorable care, bison survive well, mate without difficulty and reproduce even more than in the wild. According to Schepf's observations, the pregnancy period lasts 270-274 days. A mother treats her newborn with extreme tenderness, unless touched by a human hand; she becomes enraged and takes out every uninvited touch of the overseer on the defenseless calf. The bull should be separated from the pregnant cow because family life It is impossible for these animals to live in close quarters. In Dresden, on May 22, 1865, a newly born calf was picked up by its parent on its horns and thrown over a fence; here he again stood on his feet and was brought into the stable to his mother, who had been separated from the bull. The cow, having sniffed her calf and probably noticing that human hands had already touched it, threw it up and trampled it to death. Many weeks before calving, the meekest bison cow becomes wild and vicious, and after calving and starting to feed the calf, she behaves in most cases as I described above.
The taste of bison meat is a cross between the meat of domestic bulls and venison; The meat of cows and calves is especially famous. The Poles considered salted bison meat an excellent delicacy and used it as gifts to the courts of sovereigns. The hide produces strong and durable, but soft and tough leather, which is used for making belts and trims.
Horns and hooves are credited with medicinal properties. Our ancestors made drinking vessels from beautiful, strong horns. In the Caucasus they are still used instead of cups. At a dinner at which one Caucasian prince honored General Rozan, instead of glasses, 50-70 bison horns, separated by silver, were used.
The same fate that the bison suffered for centuries befell its only relative - bison(Bison bison)*, in an incredibly short time, one might say, in one decade.
* Bison entered America from Eurasia in glacial period. Their different forms will replace each other in the tundra-steppes, forests and prairies; some species were much larger than the modern steppe bison (Bison bison); the span of their long horns reached 2 meters or more. Despite the common American name (Buffalo), bison, like bison, are more closely related to bulls than to buffalos.
Several decades ago across vast spaces North America millions of these powerful animals roamed; at present there are no more than a few hundred buffalo there. History does not know, and will never record on its pages, another example of such systematic destruction, such ruthless mass extermination for the insignificant benefit of harmless and useful animals. Moreover, the government did nothing to protect them. Now only bleaching bones scattered across distant deserts indicate the once countless herds of North American bison.
The number of surviving bison reached, according to the exact information of William Gornedey, on January 1, 1889, up to 835 animals, including those 200 bulls that live under government protection in Yellowstone Park. This extermination of bison began in the seventies, when the railroads were built
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Akimushkin Igor Ivanovich (1929-1993)
Born in Moscow in the family of an engineer. Graduated from the Faculty of Biology and Soil Sciences of Moscow State University (1952). Published since 1956.
His first books for children appeared in 1961: “Traces of Unseen Beasts” and “The Path of Legends: Tales of Unicorns and Basilisks.”
Igor Ivanovich wrote a number of books for children, using techniques that are typical for fairy tales and travel. These are: “Once upon a time there was a squirrel”, “Once upon a time there was a beaver”, “Once upon a time there was a hedgehog”, “Building animals”, “Who flies without wings?”, “Different animals”, “Why is a rabbit not like a hare” and etc.
For teenagers, Akimushkin wrote books of a more complex genre - encyclopedic ones: “River and Sea Animals”, “Entertaining Biology”, “The Vanished World”, “The Tragedy of Wild Animals”, etc.
Akimushkin’s focus is on current issues of development, conservation and study of the animal world, research on the behavior and psyche of animals. He wrote not only books for children and youth; but also scripts for popular science films. A number of Akimushkin’s works have been translated into foreign languages. His most famous work is the book “Animal World”.
“The World of Animals” is the most famous work of Igor Ivanovich Akimushkin, which has gone through several reprints. They summarize a huge amount of scientific material, use a more modern classification scheme for the animal world, many different facts from the life of animals, birds, fish, insects and reptiles, beautiful illustrations, photographs, funny stories and legends, incidents from life and notes from an observer-naturalist. Six volumes of “The World of Animals” by Igor Ivanovich Akimushkin were published one after another over the course of a decade - from 1971 to 1981. They were published by the publishing house “Young Guard” in the popular “Eureka” series. In ten years, readers have managed to grow up and fall in love with these books for the rest of their lives. The first and second talked about mammals, the third - about birds, the fourth - about fish, amphibians and reptiles, the fifth - about insects, the sixth - about domestic animals.
The first book, “The World of Animals,” tells about seven orders of mammals: cloacals, marsupials, insectivores, woolly wings, carnivores, equids and artiodactyls.
Why was Australia inhabited only by marsupials and egg-laying animals before the arrival of humans? Who is stronger: a lion, a tiger or a bear? Secrets behind the needles - about the incomprehensible habits of hedgehogs. Igor Akimushkin invites readers to take him on a fascinating journey into the animal kingdom. In this book, the author talks about the world of mammals. The theme of human responsibility for the fate of animals on our planet runs through the entire book.
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In bovids, both males and females (with rare exceptions) wear a pair, or even two pairs of horns. The fact that their horns are hollow, that is, empty inside, seems to be beyond doubt, and, however, this is not entirely true: the horns seem to be “attached” to rods protruding from the frontal bone.
Shape and size? Here, as writers of old used to say, “the pen falls out of your hands.” Lumpy, folded, faceted, smooth, twisted, twisted, just straight - in general, all sorts. The length and width are also different: from miniature stilettos to huge rapiers. The girth of the argali horns at the base, for example, is about 50 centimeters.
The horns of bovids grow throughout their lives, but never branch. They consist of a substance of epidermal origin, an excellent material for making glue (the Chinese, as usual, also make medicines from them). Strongly civilized hunters (for example, those who have impoverished the fauna of Africa) use hollow horns for... Well, E. Hemingway answered this question to one African: “Tell him that, according to the customs of our tribe, we give horns to our richest friends. Also say that this is a very exciting event and sometimes some of our fellow tribesmen are chased by people with unloaded pistols.”
Some zoologists call bovid animals “horned.” Everyone has horns. All sorts of horns: straight and sharp meter bayonets; curved like sabers, twisted into a corkscrew; twisted into a “ram’s horn”; small, like stilettos, - great variety. Horns are found in females and males, less often only in males. Some will be born with the beginnings of horns, many are polled at birth.
Why are horns needed? It would seem an idle question: for defense and attack. We always thought so. But in Lately doubts arose.
If for defense, then why do females, who in this case need horns most of all, often have none at all or are small? Previously, it was self-evident that females with cubs were protected by strong and horned males. But the males of many bovids do not even think about protecting their females and children. If the predator is strong and there is no point in fighting, they usually run away first. But even if the predator is small and the horns could be useful to drive it away, even such strange things have been noticed at first glance: the male rushes not to help the female, but at her! When, for example, a female Thomson's gazelle happens to wound and drive a jackal away from her cub and she rushes in pursuit of the predator, the male immediately rushes after her and forces her to turn back. For what? Yes, because he is afraid that she will run away from his harem. This possessive – or rather, sexual – instinct suppresses the male’s instinct to care for the offspring.
Not everyone does this, but many do. True, among musk oxen and American snow goats, when threatened by a wolf attack, the males always join forces to repel predators. Large bulls, buffaloes for example, do not give in to lions. It's right. But here’s what’s interesting: buffaloes, musk oxen, and snow goats, that is, those who use their horns most actively, do not have the best structure at all. Or small, like snow goat, or too curved. And here we would need straight ones, sharp as swords.
But maybe horns are necessary to fight with relatives for females and territory? Indeed, male gazelles, for example, and many other bovids butt heads with each other ten times a day. But the horns are used with great care, not for mutilation, but for ritual confrontation. Of course, it happens, and often, when mortal wounds are inflicted by a blow to the side, in the most unprotected place. But this is rather an exception. Usually, before fighting, males, according to the rules that evolution has laid down in their instincts, stand in a certain position: head to head. Here the blows are delivered flat with the horns. Such fencing, no better word needed, is customary among antelopes. At the same time, some even kneel (roan antelopes and nilgai) and, straining their strength, try to push away or knock down the enemy. Roan antelopes rest in this power struggle with the middle of their back-curved horns, and nilgai with their foreheads. Nilgai, intertwining their necks, try to knock down their opponent. And all this while on my knees!
By the way, neck wrestling is one of the original ritual forms. Just like bites. Over the course of evolution, in many species it was replaced by fencing and fighting with locked horns. It is interesting that in females and cubs that do not have horns or they are small, more ancient ritual fighting tactics have been preserved as a kind of atavism: biting, kicking, clasping the neck, hitting the side with the forehead.
It is the hornless females who often strike not in the forehead, but in the side. Males almost never: otherwise they would have killed each other in the first skirmishes. Ritual rules of fighting (of course, not consciously observed, but instinctive), developed over millions of years of evolution, are designed to protect fighters from severe injuries and death in skirmishes. This is amazing!
At first glance, duels between rams are quite dangerous: they run away and smash their heads together with a bang.
But they can afford this entertainment, because their horns, necks, and frontal bones are strong and can withstand such blows well. But the foreheads of goats are not suitable for ramming. They fight by striking their horns from above, and therefore stand on their hind legs before striking. You cannot keep a goat in the same enclosure with a ram. The goat is arrogant and does not calculate its strength well, while the ram has an armored skull. And if the ram, running away, hits the goat directly in the forehead, it can kill, break its neck or pierce its skull.
In addition to certain rules of fighting that limit injury, all animals and bovids also have special postures of submission and appeasement that allow the weak to avoid a fight. Thomson's gazelles are recumbent, with their necks extended along the ground. Some people fall to their knees. Therefore, the bull in the arena freezes and does not rush at the matador when he, kneeling right next to the bull’s muzzle, performs his tricks. The healthy instincts of an animal paralyze its aggressiveness, and a man with a sword, violating the morality of nature, acts in this case as a sadist: the continuation is well known to everyone.
That's all about the horns for now. Now about those who wear them on their heads.
This is an extensive family. All in it are ruminants, all artiodactyls: 128 species. They are divided in different ways and into different numbers of subfamilies. Let's take as an example a division that is perhaps the least complex:
1. Bovine: 13 wild and domesticated species of bovine (buffalo, zebu, gaur, guyal, cowrey, bison, bison, yak, etc.); 9 species of African antelopes (kudu, nyala, sitatunga, eland, bongo, etc.) and 2 species of Asian antelopes (nilgai and four-horned).
2. Duikers: the smallest of the antelopes, 17 species, all African.
3. Horse antelopes: waterbucks, ridbucks, oryxes, bases, saber-horned and horse antelopes, cow antelopes (topi, kongoni, wildebeest) - 24 species, all African, except for the Arabian oryx, which was almost exterminated.
4. Gazelles: impalas, dik-diks, oribi, beirs, gerenuk (giraffe gazelle), Thomson's gazelle, goitered gazelle, gazelle - 37 mainly African and partly Asian species.
5. Caprines: goats, rams, chamois, gorals, saigas, takins, musk oxen– 26 mainly Asian, European, partly North American and African species.
In South America there are no wild bovids, just like in Australia.
So, about the bulls. But before we begin, let’s digress a little for one necessary clarification. It concerns the word "antelope", which is more literary and everyday than strictly zoological scientific significance. In general, antelopes are usually called bovids that are not bulls, rams or goats. Medium-sized antelopes are also called gazelles, and the smallest ones are called duikers.
Greater kudu live in Africa - from Ethiopia to Angola and the Zambezi River in the south. The lesser kudu is found only in Somalia and eastern Africa.
Greater kudu live in Africa - from Ethiopia to Angola and the Zambezi River in the south.
The lesser kudu is found only in Somalia and eastern Africa.
“The beast is like a horse, terrible and invincible, with a large horn between its ears, its body is copper, and it has all its strength in the rose. Doesn't have any friends, lives 532 years. And when he throws his horn into the sea, and from it the worm grows; and from this there is a unicorn beast. But an old beast is not strong without a horn, becomes orphaned and dies.”
This is how the Russian alphabet books talked about the unicorn, they actually talked too “literarily”, because the prototype of the unicorn, as it turns out, was... a bull.
Archaeologists, excavating the sites of ancient cities of the Middle East, found Assyrian and Babylonian bas-reliefs and writings, from which it turned out that the Hebrew word “reem”, translated by the compilers of the Greek Bible as “unicorn”, actually meant a wild aurochs bull, completely two-horned.
The royal, or dwarf, antelope is the smallest of the antelopes: its height is only 25 - 30 centimeters. Her jumps are magnificent - almost three meters in length. Royal antelopes live in West Africa (Liberia, Nigeria). Second, somewhat more close-up view– in Nigeria and Cameroon.
So, the tour. He is up to two meters tall (at the withers) and weighs a ton! The color is black, the cows and calves are red. But you can argue about color... Remember the epics: “She wrapped Dobrynya in a bay aurochs”, “Where bays go nine aurochs”... Our ancestors were not color blind to confuse black with red! And yet, the tour is usually considered black, or rather, “he was black,” where the short “was” completely deprives us of the opportunity to know the true truth.
Because these bulls are no longer there. They were exterminated. And although this happened quite recently, the tour was thoroughly forgotten everywhere. It remains in epics, proverbs, some ancient rituals (for example, at Christmas time they dressed up as a tour) and in the names of places and surnames: Turovo, Tury, Turov log, Turova howl, Turzhets, Turov. The canton of Uri in Switzerland, of which Dostoevsky's Stavrogin was called a citizen, also owes its name to a wild bull: “Urus” in Latin, “ur” in German - the names of the tour.
But still, the assertion that the bull was black has serious grounds. Various images of the tour have reached us, and the best of them is the famous Augsburg painting. It was found in an antiquarian shop by the English zoologist Smith. It was drawn at the beginning of the 16th century by some Polish artist (and just about three hundred years ago the aurochs disappeared from the face of the Earth). This, it turns out, is a “posthumous” portrait (it disappeared, only a copy made by Smith survived) depicted the aurochs black - one must think, not for the sake of mourning.
But, of course, whatever it is, the image cannot serve as sufficiently serious evidence, because artists in all centuries were very prone to various liberties in their works (Assyrian and Babylonian bas-reliefs, for example, on which aurochs are one-horned, and horses are “double-legged” ": they only have two legs).
The proof is elsewhere. In 1921, German zoologists brothers Lutz and Heinz Heck, having traveled around Europe in search of “tur-like” bulls and cows (and finding suitable ones), began a remarkable experiment: using backcrossing methods, they decided to revive the aurochs.
The “restored” aurochs have everything like the extinct one: black color, large sharp horns. And the cows and calves are bay, which means that geneticists have achieved the most difficult thing: sexual and age dimorphism, that is, different colors and appearance of females, males and cubs. And finally: the “restored” tour is so similar to the one depicted in the Augsburg drawing that it seems as if it was drawn from it.
But back in the last century, even some serious naturalists did not believe that there was such a bull on Earth - an aurochs. Everything that the ancients told about him was attributed to the bison. Even V.I. Dal equates the words “tour” and “bison,” although he might not have done so, because by the time he was compiling his famous dictionary, the French anatomist and paleontologist Georges Cuvier had already proven that a long-horned bison once lived large bull - tour.
Duikers - there are probably seventeen species - are found throughout Africa south of Sudan. The height at the shoulders of different species ranges from 35 to 50 centimeters, and the weight ranges from 5 to 65 kilograms. All except the gray duiker, in which females are usually hornless, both sexes bear small horns.
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Characteristics of the bovid family.
Sizes from small to large. Thus, Neotragus pygmaeus has a height at the withers of about 25 cm and a weight of 2-3 kg, and the bison has a height at the withers of up to 200 cm and a weight of up to 1000 kg. The general build ranges from light and slender to heavy and massive. The limbs are usually high. Males, and in many species also females, have a pair of unbranched horns (Tetracerus has two pairs). Horns are permanent, irreplaceable bony outgrowths of the frontal bones, covered on the outside with a horny sheath of epidermal origin. Antler growth, in contrast to deer, comes from its base. Thus, the top of the horn represents its oldest part. Characterized by periodic intensification and slowdown of horn growth, as a result of which peculiar rings are formed on its horny surface. The shape of the horns is extremely varied - from completely straight, long and thin to short, thick and strongly curved or spirally twisted. 
If the direction of bending or twisting of the horn occurs inward, towards the horn of the opposite side, then such horns are called homonymous, but if the right horn is folded or bent to the right, and the left one to the left - heteronymous. In cross-section, horns are round, oval or triangular. On their surface there are often protrusions, transverse folds and rings or longitudinal ribs.
The color is very diverse - from white to almost black, usually without sharp color patterns. Many species have a white field on the thighs - a “mirror”. The skin usually contains many specific glands: preorbital, interhorn, inguinal, interdigital, caudal and etc. 1-2 pairs of nipples.
There are 4 toes on the limbs (rarely 2), but the lateral toes (II and V) are greatly shortened and, although they have small hooves, they usually do not touch them when walking on hard ground. Only the proximal and distal parts of the metacarpal bones of the lateral fingers are preserved.
The frontal bones are strongly developed in the skull. The parietal bones are moved back. The lacrimal bone has a highly developed facial part with or without a fossa for the preorbital gland. Usually there is only one opening of the lacrimal canal. The ethmoidal foramina are absent or poorly developed. The bones of the skull are highly pneumatized. The premaxillary bone is usually relatively small, the maxillary bone is very large. Sometimes the second premolars in the lower, and occasionally in the upper jaws, do not develop or fall out early. The cheek teeth are hypselodont and tetraselenodont (four-lobed).
The stomach is complex, clearly divided into 4 sections: rumen, mesh, book and abomasum. Gallbladder usually available. The placenta is polycotton-iceous.
Distributed widely across the globe. The restored range covers Africa (without Madagascar), Europe (except for the British Isles), going north to the south of the Scandinavian Peninsula, the Gulf of Finland, the Upper Volga, Samara Luka and the south of the Urals. Beyond the Urals, the range includes the south of Western Siberia and most of Central and Eastern Siberia and the Far East. In the southeast and south of Asia, the range covers the entire southern part The Asian mainland with most of the adjacent islands. In the New World, the range occupies most of North America south to California, Florida and northern Mexico, the Arctic archipelago, northern and East Coast Greenland. As a result of excessive fishing or other reasons, the ranges of most species have been significantly reduced.
They live in a wide variety of places - from dense forests to steppes, semi-deserts and deserts on the plains, in the foothills and high mountains - higher than almost all other mammals (up to 5500 m above sea level). However, the largest number of species inhabit open spaces. They keep in herds, sometimes very large - up to several thousand heads. Much less common in small groups or alone. They feed on plants, mainly herbs.
Most species are polygamous, although some are monogamous. The males of some bovids have a harem of females during the breeding season. Inhabitants of the tropics, as a rule, have no seasonality in reproduction. The duration of pregnancy is 4-11 months. There are from one to 4-5 cubs in a litter.
Many species of bovids are of significant importance as game animals, from which they obtain meat and leather. A number of species served as the ancestors of the most important domestic animals.
The bovid family contains 140 species, ranging from the 5-kg dik-dik to the 1,000-kg bison. An important difference are horns: there is almost always one pair of them (the exception is the genus of four-horned antelopes), and the length can range from 2 cm to 1.5 meters. Some species have horns only on males, but most have horns on both sexes. These are bony structures firmly connected to the skull. Unlike deer and pronghorn, bovids never have branched antlers.
The largest representative of the family is the gaur (up to 2.2 m tall at the withers and weighing more than a ton), and the smallest is the dwarf antelope (weighs no more than 3 kg and is as tall as a large domestic cat).
The majority of bovids live in open areas. African savannas provide an ideal living space for many species. There are also species that live in mountainous areas or forests.
Digestive system
Most members of the family are herbivores, although some antelopes can also eat animal food. Like other ruminants, bovids have a four-chambered stomach, which allows them to digest plant foods, such as grasses, that cannot be used as food by many other animals. Such food contains a lot of cellulose, and not all animals are able to digest it. However digestive system ruminants, which are all bovids, are able to digest such food.
Horns
The horns are attached to the protruding frontal bone. The length and width are different (the girth of argali horns, for example, is 50 cm). The horns of bovids grow throughout their lives, but never branch. They consist of a substance of epidermal origin. Mainly, horns are used by males in skirmishes with relatives.
Evolution
Historically, bovids are a relatively young group of animals. The most ancient fossils that can be confidently classified as bovids are the genus Eotragus (English) Russian from the Miocene. These animals resembled modern crested duikers, were no larger than roe deer and had very small horns. Even during the Miocene, this genus was divided, and in the Pleistocene all important lines modern bovids. In the Pleistocene, bovids migrated along the then existing natural bridge from