Skeletal material of aurochs cows is much rarer on display than that of the bulls, probably because they are "less impressive". I assume it is unlikely that less female skeletons have been found, most of them are probably in collections.
Due to copyright issues I cannot post the photos of the skeleton that I have, but my skeletal reconstruction down below was done by tracking out a photo of the skeleton and therefore should give an accurate impression.
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| Skeleton, muscle reconstruction and life reconstruction of the Sassenberg cow specimen © All rights reserved, please do not use without permission. |
The skeleton shows that cows had a shorter trunk than bull skeletons, which is congruent with the description of live aurochs in Anton Schneeberger's letter to Gesner (1602), who wrote that cows are shorter than the bulls. It also shows that also the cows had humps in the shoulder region (not only the bulls), indicated by the elongated processus spinosi in the shoulder region. Humps in cows is rare in domestic cattle, it is found in draft breeds like Sayaguesa or Maronesa, but to the largest extent in Lidia. My life reconstruction bears some resemblance to what a cross of Lidia, Maronesa and Sayaguesa would look like, what fits my proposal of a breeding project with those three breeds.
Here a Sayaguesa cow for comparison (the cow Dona-Urraca from the Lippeaue):
The reconstruction above shows the cow in its summer coat, but I also did one of the individual in a longer coat during fall:
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| The Sassenberg cow with a shagger coat during fall. Please do not use without permission. |
It is not known how long the winter coat of the aurochs was. Schneeberger wrote that the aurochs was covered with longer hair than domestic cattle. Whether this was generally the case, or referred to the coat during winter and fall, is unknown.
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