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Aurochs skeleton in Denmark.

The aurochs, or urus, (Bos primigenius) was a large species of cattle. The aurochs used to be common in Europe. It is extinct now. It was a wild animal, not a domesticated animal. The extinct aurochs/urus is a not the same species as the wisent (the European bison).

According to the Paleontologisk Museum, University of Oslo, aurochs developed in India some two million years ago, came into the Middle East and farther into Asia, and reached Europe about 250,000 years ago. People once thought that they were a different species from modern European cattle (Bos taurus). Today, people think that aurochs and modern cattle are the same species.