Skeletal sketch of a Tauros cattle bull

Grazelands Rewilding posted this Tauros cattle bull on their Instagram page a while ago. I strongly suspect that this individual is heavily influenced by Maremmana and most likely also Sayaguesa, perhaps it even is simply a Sayaguesa x Maremmana cross. I love clear shots in profile because they are excellent to judge the animals’ anatomy. I used the photo to try to infer the skeleton from the living animal, which is actually quite feasible with domestic cattle, because often you can see the joints of the limb elements, the shoulder blade and the pelvis under the skin of the living animal.

This is the result:

 

The ratio of the trunk length (from the first thoracic vertebra to the posterior end of the pelvis) to shoulder height (from the ground to the upper end of the upper margin of the bony part of the scapula) is 1:1,23 (shoulder height : trunk length). This is well outside the range of the aurochs skeletons I have examined to far, ranging from 1:1,06 (Prejlerup skeleton) and 1:1,19 (Cambridge). This means that the trunk is longer in this Tauros cattle bull than in what we find in the aurochs, which is not unusual at all for domestic cattle – quite the contrary, even in “breeding-back” cattle. 

 

I also have photos of Taurus and Heck cattle in a nice clear profile; I will do sketches of their skeletons and compare it to those of the Tauros cattle bull.