Aurochs
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| Aurochs | |||
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| オーロックス | |||
| Character Data | |||
| Romaji | Ōrokkusu
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| Debut | Kemono Friends (2015 Game) | ||
| Animal Data | |||
| Scientific Name | Bos primigenius
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| Distribution | Eurasia
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| Diet | Herbivore
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| Avg. Lifespan | ?
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| Read More | Aurochs
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| Conservation | 
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| Aurochs | Anime | Festival | Pavilion | KF3 | Kingdom | Nexon Game | Stage Play | Gallery |
“Yo! It's Aurochs! My companions have become very few, but there are some who have inherited our spirit! I'm really happy! For some reason, I'm often mistaken for Bison, that's right.”
—Aurochs' introduction
Aurochs is an extinct bovine Friend who first appeared in the original Kemono Friends mobile game.
Appearance
Current Design
Aurochs has short, olive green hair with a lighter green patch on the back of her head, from which a tapering stripe runs towards her bangs. Her curved beige "horns" in the style of those found on the aurochs species are, in fact, hair as well. So too does she possess olive-furred bovine ears, found just behind her "horns", and a long olive bovine tail, with a band of light green hair around its otherwise olive tuft. As is true of all extinct-animal Friends, her eyes lack shine, giving them a dulled appearance. She wears a militaristic-styled uniform, consisting of a crop-top featuring a collar and epaulettes along with a miniskirt; both sport green and tan camouflage patterning. Her top is accompanied by an orange tie and a long-sleeved dark green undershirt, and her skirt is paired with black pantyhose and wears olive green boots or high-topped sneakers with orange toes and outsoles.
Like many other horned Friends, her signature weapon is a lightly curved tool akin to a spear or staff, with bulky ends that resemble horns.
Differences in Old Design
Aurochs' initial design differed very little from her modern design. The only differences were:
- her weapon's handle was a similar beige colour to the horns at its ends
- she was less evidently muscular/toned
- she had slimmer "horns" on her head
- her outfit sported brown spots where they are now tan
Series Appearances
| Media | Role | First Appearance | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Nexon Game | ↪ Playable character | |
| 2017 | Kemono Friends (2017 Anime) | ↪ Minor character | Episode 5-Lake Shore |
| 2018 | Kemono Friends Pavilion | ↪ Observable character | |
| 2018 | =LOVE Stage Project "Kemono Friends" | ↪ Major character | |
| 2018 | Kemono Friends Festival | ↪ Playable character | |
| 2018 | Kemono Friends Picross | Appears in a puzzle | |
| 2019 | Kemono Friends 3 | ↪ Minor character in story, playable character | |
| 2022 | Kemono Friends Kingdom | ↪ Minor character in story, playable character | |
Minor Appearances
Kemono Friends Picross
Aurochs appears in a puzzle of Kemono Friends Picross where the player can obtain a picture of the friend by solving a puzzle.
In Real Life
The ancestor of modern cattle, the aurochs was the largest animal in Europe, towering up to 1.80 meters (6 feet) and weighing around 1,000 kilograms (2200 lbs). Males possessed a dark brown or black color while females retained the brown color acquired at birth. Both females and males possessed impressive horns growing outward and forward, with the horns of bulls generally being larger. Believed to have been a grazing animal, the aurochs would have had a major ecological influence, maintaining the grasslands it once called home; its former habitat ranged from Great Britain and North Africa in the west to India and Korea in the east.
The aurochs is understood to have been a solitary animal in the summer months, forming small groups if any; it would have been at its most social in the fall and winter, when these groups might have merged into small herds. The mating season was in autumn; in gambits to secure mates during this time, and to establish hierarchies in the winter herds, bulls would battle each other viciously, with evidence that these ruts could be fatal. Despite their size, bulls were swift and agile; it was unlikely that a healthy adult aurochs had much reason to fear the carnivores it shared its range with. Calves, however, were vulnerable to predation; they would stick close to their mothers for protection until they were large enough to join other aurochs on the feeding grounds.
The domestication of aurochs began long ago, eventually resulting in the various breeds of domesticated cattle known today. Through modernization of the grasslands and hunting, humans pushed wild aurochs out of their natural habitats; by 500 BC, they had disappeared from Greece, after already losing their habitats in Asia and Africa. In 1200 AD the remaining known populations lived in north-eastern Europe, from East Prussia to Lithuania. While Poland attempted to preserve the aurochs in the 1500s, these efforts ultimately failed, and the last remaining aurochs- a female- died of natural causes in 1627.
Mounted skeleton of an aurochs bull at the National Museum of Denmark.
Trivia
- The scientific name of the aurochs, Bos primigenius, means 'firstborn cow'; this represents its status as the origin of all domestic cattle species.
- There is debate among taxonomists on whether or not to classify domesticated cattle- typically referred to as Bos taurus- as a subspecies of aurochs, known as Bos primigeinus. The proposal would have the accepted scientific name of aurochs become Bos primigenius primigenius, and that of modern cattle become Bos primigenius taurus.
- Although domesticated cattle appear at first to be distinct enough from aurochs to be easily considered their own species, domestication can result in phenomenal changes to an animal's biology, temperaments, and habits. This phenomenon has led to a highly similar debate as to whether domesticated pigs should be considered a unique species or a subspecies of the wild boar, which most pig species descended from; the key difference in the case of aurochs and cattle is that, unlike with pigs and boar, there are no remaining aurochs for ease of comparison.
- There are many projects in Europe attempting to 'recreate' the aurochs via "back-breeding": a process of crossing modern cattle breeds that are most genetically similar to aurochs with one other in an effort to produce something akin to their extinct bovine ancestor.
- Note that this would only recreate the phenotype of aurochs- its identifiable physical characteristics. It would not successfully recreate an aurochs-like genotype, which would be its complete set of genetic details; acquiring an aurochs-like genotype through selective breeding would be colossally statistically improbable if not outright impossible.
- Although typically docile, the powerful aurochs could become very aggressive and dangerous when provoked; these qualities made them popular combatants in Roman arenas. Additionally, Emperor Julius Caesar of Rome described the aurochs in his books commenting on the Gallic Wars.