Friday, 25 September 2026

Possible evidence of bulls with a saddle from Europe

 While browsing the web looking for new evidence on the aurochs, I did indeed find something this time. Cave paintings from Roca dels Moros from El Cogul, Catalonia, seem to show aurochs of different colours, two males and one possible female, one with what seems to be what I call the "lateral saddle" we see in indicine cattle. 

 




As you can see, the cave paintings are badly weathered, but it seems to show two dark bulls and one possible reddish female. The male in the middle has, astoundingly, a light area on the side of the trunk that looks like what I call the "lateral zebu saddle". This trait seems to be the same as the dorsal saddle in taurine breeds, just on the side of the trunk instead of the dorsal region in indicine breeds. Which one of the traits is the ancient and which one the derived ones I cannot tell based on the evidence, maybe there even is not a general rule but it is part of the genetic variation of the wildtype (this pattern is most certainly regulated by the Agouti gene). 

This mesolithic cave painting, however, seems to suggest the presence of a "lateral zebu saddle" in an aurochs bull from this particular region and time. I think this is exciting, but I would not jump to conclusions to easily. However, the colour of the bull portrayed might have looked something like in this reconstruction of mine I did for the Wadi Sarrat cranium (just without the light areas on the ventral body side):