When it comes to this representative of the fauna, a certain misunderstanding of the issue often arises. The fact is that in a number of authoritative sources it is alleged that the tour is an extinct animal. And then there is information about the area of its modern habitat. But everything is easily explained when it becomes clear that the same name means completely different species of animals.
Ancestor of pets
The sad historical fact is that the beast that the poet Vladimir Vysotsky mentioned in his early song: “Either the buffalo, the bull, or the tour” is an extinct animal. This fact is established and documented in a number of historical sources. The last tour on Earth died in 1627. Until that moment, their small herd was kept in the royal hunting grounds near Warsaw. It was this circumstance that made it possible to determine with such accuracy the date of the disappearance of the relic ancestor of modern cattle from the face of the earth. All domestic animals of this species evolved precisely from this wild bull, which now does not exist in nature. But today the tour is presented only in the expositions of some zoological museums in the form of reconstructed skeletons and skulls. But even such remains give a very clear idea of how this animal looked in reality. He looked very impressive.
What do we know about the tour
Studying the bone remains and preserved graphic images, we can conclude that the tour is an animal that is a little less than two meters tall and weighs about eight hundred kilograms. Its habitat encompassed the entire middle strip of the Eurasia continent from the Iberian Peninsula to the Pacific Ocean. It was a powerful muscular beast with large and sharp horns, dominating other representatives of the fauna. If we exclude man, then in his nature there were practically no natural enemies. Both species hunting and catastrophic reduction of relict forests, which are its natural habitat, led to the disappearance of this species. Currently, the tour is an animal, rather mythological. His image is present both on medieval heraldry and on the arms of some modern states and autonomous territories. The image of a wild bull, or tour, is widely represented in the folklore and mythology of many peoples of Europe and Asia.
Spanish bulls
In the ritual of Spanish bullfighting, which has remained unchanged since the early Middle Ages , in addition to the bullfighter, the main character is the bull. It so happened historically that of all the representatives of large horned animals, it was the Spanish bull that most of all preserved the features of the relict tour. Currently, even a series of biological experiments are being conducted aimed at reviving and restoring the natural population of the tour. It is planned to apply gene technologies and clone the tour using DNA molecules extracted from its bone remains . It is too early to speak about the results of this bold project, but one cannot exclude the possibility that sensational news from the sphere of zoology awaits humanity in the near future.
Mountain tour
And the other horned fauna was much luckier. In any case, there is no direct threat of extermination for him yet. The point here is a simple coincidence of names. In the same way as a relic bull that disappeared from the face of the earth, in zoology a whole genus of mountain goats is called, of which there are a total of eight species. So this is a completely different tour. The animal, whose photo is decorated with many textbooks of zoology, lives on steep, inaccessible mountain slopes. And, despite the poaching, he is not going to die out yet. Mountain goats inhabit many regions of Eurasia and northern Africa. They are characterized by unpretentiousness in food and the ability to survive in the most difficult natural conditions. No one can compare with their ability to move at high speed on an almost sheer surface.
On the slopes of the Caucasus
In the territory of the Russian Federation, mountain goats also have their authorized representatives. The Caucasian tour is widely known. This animal lives in the inaccessible part of the region, mainly in the region of the Russian-Georgian border, and has two varieties: West Caucasian and East Caucasian. Sometimes it is called the Caucasian mountain goat. In recent years, the existence of these species has seen alarming trends. Their population has declined markedly, and this fact requires the adoption of vigorous legal measures aimed at protecting animals from poaching. However, due to the complexity of the situation in many regions of the Caucasus in practice, implementing environmental protection measures is not so simple. It is not enough to write the endangered animal in the International Red Book, it is also necessary to ensure the real regime of its protection.