Range Description

Bos primigenius is Extinct. The aurochs had three subspecies: Bos primigenius primigenius from Europe and the Middle East; B. p. namadicus from India; and B. p. mauretanicus from North Africa. Only the nominate subspecies has survived until recent times. Originally the aurochs occurred from the British Isles and southern Scandinavia, through most of Europe to northern Africa, the Middle East, central Asia and India. By the 13th century A.D., the aurochs' range was restricted to Poland, Lithuania, Moldova, Transylvania and East Prussia (The Extinction Website, 2007). The last recorded live aurochs, a female, died in 1627 in the Jaktorów (Jaktorowka) Forest, Masovia, Poland (Grubb, 2005).

It is distributed worldwide under domestication (as Bos taurus), and feral populations have become established in Australia, New Guinea, the United States, Colombia, Argentina and many islands, including Hawaii, Galápagos, Hispaniola, Tristan da Cunha, New Amsterdam, Juan Fernandez Islands, and the United Kingdom (Chillingham cattle).