Tuesday 8 September 2020

Reconstruction of aurochs cow horns

Recently I did a reconstruction of the horns of the Asti specimen at the Museo paleontologico territoriale dell'Astiagiano. 

Reconstructing the horn sheaths on the bony cores always requires speculation to a certain degree. The horn sheath continues the curvature of the bone, but there is no rule of thumb on how much the sheath increases length and thickness of the horn. Especially the length of the sheath may vary greatly in comparison to the bony core (see van Vuure 2005). So we can only guess how much the sheath added to the horns in the individual specimen. I usually reconstruct the horn sheath with 133% of the length of the bony core. 

Here is the result: 


Please do not use without permission. 


In modern cattle, Watussi, Heck cattle of the Wörth lineage and Maronesa may have horns similar to those above. A mix of all three might reach the goal both in curvature and dimensions. 

Another reconstruction of the Asti specimen is about to come. 

1 comment:

  1. Przewalski’s horse (Equus przewalskii) cloned:
    https://reviverestore.org/projects/przewalskis-horse/

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