Talk:Zebu

There was a repor in today's The Sun about Zebu
...apparently being marketed as "British beef". If anything, I'm disgusted with the patriotism more than the fact that we could be eating Zebu. Could be added to the article...--h i s  s p a c e   r e s e a r c h 13:50, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Bos primigenius or Bos taurus?
There seems to be some confusion in this articles as to whether or not to count the zebu as part of Bos taurus (domestic cattle) or Bos primigenius (aurochs). There's some debate among scientists, but shouldn't this be mentioned, and one or the other decided, to keep the page from contradicting itself? The page for Bos has the zebu listed as taurus. --Petemella 12:34, 22 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I've corrected this, and so made this article consistent within itself and with aurochs &mdash; and with Bos too (which explains that Bos taurus is an alternative for use only if domesticated cattle are regarded as a separate species).


 * I've also tried to correct the impression that the only Bos primigenius taurus cattle are European &mdash; there are African and Asian ones too (see aurochs). I could not think of a way of doing this without using the perhaps rather technical term "taurine".


 * Related to this, I've queried the general claim that zebu are better adapted to hot climates and certain tropical diseases than taurine cattle. This may well be true when comparing them with European and north-east Asian taurine breeds, but what about the African taurine ones, which appear to cope well with the climate?  These have generally only been supplanted by zebu in those eastern parts of Africa relatively accessible from the Indian Ocean (as stated in the article).  Because of this, the claim that zebu were imported into Africa for resistance-to-climate reasons needs sustantiation &mdash; they might just as easily have been brought for cultural reasons. --Richard New Forest 14:25, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Bos Taurus Indicus means Indian Cattle whereas Zebu means Bos Primigenius Indicus. This zebu breed is a sub type of Indian Cattel. So it's my kind request to you to separate both the pages. Goresm (talk) 11:51, 25 December 2020 (UTC)

Trinomial authority
This is given as Linneus, without qualification. However, he surely was the one who called it Bos indicus. An authority for the primigenius element is needed (him too, I suppose...). I don't know how the convention goes, but should he not be in brackets or something, or repeated, or both? --Richard New Forest 14:25, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

I don't get it either. ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Integration System) seems to indicate that there is no Bos indicus, and that Zebu cattle are Bos taurus. Again, a search on GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facilities)for Bos primigenius indicus returns no results, while Bos indicus is apparently a synonym for Bos taurus. I can't find any mention of primigenius anywhere other than wikipedia. None of the other articles I've seen cite anything, as far as I can see. MUCH CONFUSION! 118.208.73.195 (talk) 10:04, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

Zebu's meat
Zebu's meat is delicious.For me, the best meat is exactly the zebu's hump.Brazil is selling millions of tons of zebu's meat to dozens of countries of the world, without no problems.Agre22 (talk) 02:34, 23 July 2009 (UTC)agre22
 * Yes, the article is quite short of information on Zebu as a commodity. Abductive (talk) 22:35, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

new picture please
that picture of the Zebu makes it look like it has a frill around its neck, especially when viewed at a distance - it's very confusing. It's not until you consider the other pictures that you realise that it hasn't actually got a frill. I would recommend changing this picture.Owen214 (talk) 12:42, 7 September 2010 (UTC)

In Popular Culture
Had redundant references to the Veggietales song... I snipped out the less well-written one. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.97.146.234 (talk) 13:31, 11 August 2013 (UTC)


 * There's a white Zebu, with long, snazzy-looking horns that sneezes in Between the Lions' Continuing, Daring and Dangling Adventures of... "CLIFF HANGER...!!!"NoahAlexanderJohnson101 (talk) 03:45, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

"Bos taurus indicus"
As already discussed on the aurochs talk page, there seems to be confusion regarding domestic bovine taxonomy. I would like to see if there is any evidence for taurine and zebuine cattle being one species that excludes the aurochs, because they have been domesticated separately and descend from different subspecies of the aurochs. Currently the zebu is listed here as Bos taurus indicus, which is perfectly fine as long as the aurochs is listed as Bos taurus primigenius. But one domesticated species Bos taurus different from Bos primigenius, does not exist. Therefore, the current taxonomy (aurochs: Bos primigenius, taurine cattle: Bos taurus taurus, zebuine cattle: Bos taurus indicus) is not supported by scientific literature. I would therefore kindly ask if there is any evidence for listing zebuine and taurine cattle, which have different ancestors, as one species that does not include the aurochs. DFoidl (talk) 11:07, 21 December 2021 (UTC)
 * On the page Domestication, you can read that already Charles Darwin recognised in the late 19th century that domesticated species differ from their wild ancestors by several traits, which is why they are NOT considered subspecies of their wild ancestors. See the decision by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (2003) and Gentry et al. (2004), both referenced under aurochs section Taxonomy. – BhagyaMani (talk) 11:30, 21 December 2021 (UTC)
 * There is no consensus on that, but let's assume there is and that everybody considers domesticated animals species different from their ancestors. What is the evidence for zebuine and taurine cattle being one species, then? They have been domesticated separately and from different subspecies of the aurochs. Do you understand the problem or don't you understand? BTW; did you even read the sources that you are providing as evidence for your taxonomy? Because they don't really support your point of view. DFoidl (talk) 11:40, 21 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Since YOU question the sources provided here, the onus is on YOU to provide resp. sources for different views and research results. – BhagyaMani (talk) 13:13, 21 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I question nothing, I am merely pointing to the fact that zebus are usually referred to as Bos indicus, including the source you keep on referring to in order to support your taxonomy of zebus as B. taurus indicus. I am, unfortunately, still waiting for you to come up with evidence for that. Please provide some evidence for taurine cattle and zebuine cattle being one domestic species or I change the articles. Thank you. DFoidl (talk) 13:16, 21 December 2021 (UTC)

Since you don't respond I assume that you have no problem with my intention to change the scientific name of the zebu back to Bos indicus on this article and the aurochs article. I am going to do that tomorrow unless you engage in discussion to find consensus and I hope you don't start another edit war. DFoidl (talk) 16:29, 21 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I do NOT object, but think that we have to clarify that its classification as species vs subspecies has been ambiguous. – BhagyaMani (talk) 09:57, 22 December 2021 (UTC)

Cattle Taxonomy RFC
Please see the RFC at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Mammals and respond there if you have an opinion. Thanks! Kaldari (talk) 19:56, 27 February 2022 (UTC)