Is there such a thing as a wild cow?

Question

I have always wondered if you can walk into the forest and run up on a wild cow. If not today, could you ever do this in the past? They had to come from somewhere, right? I've also wondered this about fruits and vegetables. Like, can you go into the woods and find wild squash, or wild cabbage, or a wild orange tree?

Answer 1

Do you mean a domestic cow that became feral? Yes, you can find those, especially in open rangeland areas. There's always a willey old cow, who escapes roundup and her calves grow up to be feral cattle.

Do you mean breeds of cattle that are wild? Then yes, you can still find them, but they won't look like what you are thinking. The yak, water buffalos, bison, guar, banteng, zebu...all wild cattle...also all domesticated, but still found in their wild form in their country or origin (African water buffalo have never been domesticated, but other types of water buffalo have been).

Yes, you can still find wild squash, and cabbage, and wild orange trees. Of course they will not produce nearly the amount of food you are use to, nor are they likely to taste as good.

Know what you will NOT find in the wild? Corn. Corn cannot survive in the wild, without man to cultivate and care for it.

All of our domestic animals have wild relatives still living in the wild (even chickens).

~Garnet
Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

P.S. If you are ever walking through the forest and run into your wild cow...climb a tree...it will be about as friendly as a grizzly bear

Answer 2

Kinda, cattle as your thinking are domesticated animals that have been bred for centuries into a new animal. Same deal with dogs and cats, and the only wild ones you will find escaped from some farm. The problem is though, cows are easier to keep track of and catch than a dog or cat, and cows are a heavily social animal and would prefer to stay in the herd.
They were bred from other bovines, like water buffalo or yaks in southern Asia, but the animals they were bred from still roam south Asia and Africa.
Also, yes there are wild counterparts to domesticated crops just the same.

Answer 3

"Cow" refers to the female of the species. I suspect you mean cattle or Bovine animals. If so, the answer is yes but being primarily grass eaters, finding one in a forest would be less likely than finding on on a plain.

Answer 4

The common ancestor of domestic cattle is thought to be Bos primigenius (the auroch). The last wild auroch was killed in Poland in the 17th century.

Answer 5

Yes. There are places, like south Florida, were cattle become feral and very dangerous. There are wild cattle in Asia. That is where all the domesticate stock originated.

http://www.wildcattleconservation.org/

Answer 6

Yes, take the wild buffalo of Africa for example.

Answer 7

Yes in the past, but not now.

As for the vegetation, maybe in some undeveloped areas, like rainforests.

Answer 8

Not the forest, but on the plains you used to be able to.

Answer 9

Not anymore!