CHAPTER X 
HYBRID CATTLE 
The species of cattle, when in a domesticated or semi- 
domesticated condition, are remarkable for the readi- 
ness with which many of them will interbreed, and 
likewise for the fertility of the hybrid progeny. 
Indeed, it is probable that under suitable conditions, 
all the species except buffaloes would interbreed, and 
produce fertile offspring; although it is noticeable 
that in some cases it is only the bulls of one species 
that will breed with the cows of a second, the opposite 
cross being infertile. It is likewise noticeable that 
the bulls are strongly prepotent, the hybrids 
generally, if not invariably, showing the charac- 
teristics of the species represented by the sire. In 
this fertility of the hybrids between different species 
cattle display a marked difference to certain members 
of the horse family when mutually crossed. 
The wild species most nearly related to the extinct 
European aurochs and its domesticated derivatives 
are the gaur and bantin of the Indo-Malay countries ; 
and since it has been shown in an earlier chapter that 
humped cattle are probably a domesticated form of the 
last-mentioned species, it would be natural to expect 
that European cattle should interbreed and produce 
fertile offspring with zebu. As a matter of fact, this 
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