The general disposition of animals of this class, when unmolested, is inoffensive and retiring; but when excited and irritated, they are fierce and courageous, and extremely dangerous to encounter. It is a remarkable circumstance in their history, that they are generally provoked to attack at the sight of red, or any very bright and glaring colour.
_a._ Cervical vertebræ. _b._ Dorsal vertebræ. _c._ Lumbar vertebræ. _d._ Sacrum. _e._ Caudal vertebræ, or coccygeal bones. _f._ Ribs. _g._ Costal cartilages. _h._ Scapula. _i._ Humerus, _k._ Radius. _l._ Ulna _m._ Carpus, or knee. _n._ Large metacarpal, or cannon. _pp._ Sesamoid bones. _qq._ Phalanges. _r._ Pelvis. _s._ Femur. _t._ Patella. _u._ Tibia. _v._ Rudimentum fibulæ. _w._ Hock and tarsals. _x._ Large metatarsal. _y._ Small metatarsal.
1. Inferior maxilla (lower jaw). 2. Superior maxilla (upper jaw). 3. Anterior maxilla 4. Nasal bone. 5. Frontal. 6. Parietal. 7. Occipital.
Skeleton of Domestic Ox, from a specimen in the Royal College of Surgeons.]
Is distinguished from other Genera of Ruminantia by possessing hollow persistent horns, growing on a bony core; the tail long, terminated by a tuft of hair; and four inguinal mammæ.
The head of this animal is enormously large; larger, in fact, in proportion to the size of its body, than that of any other species of the Ox Tribe. This huge head is supported by very powerful muscles, attached to the projecting spinous processes of the dorsal vertebræ; and these muscles, together with a quantity of fat, constitute the hump on the shoulders. The horns are short, tapering, round, and very distant from each other, as are also the eyes, which are small and dark. The head, neck, shoulders, and fore-legs, to the knee-joints, are covered with long woolly hair, which likewise forms a beard under the mouth. The rest of the body is clothed only by short, close hair, which becomes rather woolly in the depth of winter. The colour is of a deep brown, nearly black on the head, and lighter about the neck and shoulders. The legs are firm and muscular; the tail is short, with a tuft at the end.
The female is, in every respect, much smaller than the male; her horns are more slender, and the hair on her neck and shoulders is not so thick or long, nor the colour so dark. She brings forth in the spring, and rarely more than one. The calves continue to be suckled nearly twelve months, and follow the cows for a much longer period. It is said that the cows are not unfrequently followed by the calves of two, or even three, breeding seasons.