Kingdom animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Mammalia
Order Artiodactyla
Family bovidae
Gender good
Speciesgood taurus
Cows are the females of the species good taurus. Males, on the other hand, can be called bull or ox. In the latter case, we are talking about a castrated individual. There are two subspecies: good taurus taurus, the European cattle, or taurine cattle, quite productive; it's the bos taurus indicus, Asian cattle or Zebu cattle, well adapted to tropical environments.
Such animals are ruminants, endowed with a pair of permanent hollow horns. They were domesticated by our species approximately 5000 years ago, aiming at their milk and use as a means of transporting cargo, also taking advantage of their meat and leather when they died.
Nowadays, the situation is different: cattle are widely used for feeding and removing leather; use of bones for the manufacture of flour, soap and feed; making brushes using their fur; use of manure; in addition to the other purposes already mentioned. Its trade moves a huge amount of capital: Brazil even holds the second largest herd of these animals worldwide, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Although such information is encouraging, and the wide use of products and derivatives of origin there is another side to the issue: the social and environmental impacts that such herds can cause. It is known that, for example, a large part of the native cerrado and the Amazon forest have given way to this culture in recent years; many cases of fires in forest areas are consequences of fires aimed at the formation of pastures; and that the strong concentration of rural areas contributes to the occurrence of several and serious social conflicts – and labor exploitation. In addition, livestock is responsible for a high consumption of water, fossil fuels, pharmaceuticals and grains (about 465 million tons of grain per year, used in cattle feed); and methane gas, released together with the flatus of these animals, is one of the main causes of the greenhouse effect, corresponding to approximately 30% of their emissions.
By Mariana Araguaia
Biologist, specialist in Environmental Education