Study Finds DNA Clues to Cattle Origins | The Institute for Creation Research

Study Finds DNA Clues to Cattle Origins

Archaeologists concur that modern domestic cattle descended from wild aurochs in the Middle East. But recent DNA analysis showed that many aurochs were actually included in the first domesticated herd. And like other studies of plant and animal origins, these results show that cattle history matches best with biblical history.

Ruth Bollongino and her team at Germany's University of Mainz, whose study appears in Molecular Biology and Evolution, examined mitochondrial DNA from 15 ancient cattle bones found in Iran. The researchers compared ancient DNA sequences with those of modern domestic cattle. Their results indicated that "around 80 female aurochs were initially domesticated."1

Such a low number suggests that domestication was not random, nor was it spread across a wide region. Instead, it was "a more complex and challenging process," according to the study authors.1

A separate study of Russian foxes showed that when breeding pairs were artificially selected for docile temperament, complete domestication occurred in six generations.2 But this involved capturing wild foxes, retaining them in cages, and breeding them with organized intent.

Researchers found that very few members in the founding population of domestic cattle existed, indicating that ancient humans caught wild aurochs and bred them to be domesticated, similar or identical to recent domestication of wild foxes.

And these results support biblical history, rather than evolutionary history, in at least two ways. First, domestication should have occurred soon after the Flood in the Middle East, since that is where Noah's ark landed and post-Flood populations took root. Likewise, domesticated pear and apple trees, wheat,3 small dogs,4 and—according to a University College London press release reporting Bollongino's research results—"goats, sheep and pigs" also originated in the Middle East.5

Second, in order to domesticate cattle from a few select wild aurochs, ancient people must have been just as smart and strong, if not more so, as the people of today.6 No good evidence backs evolutionary claims of brutish, ape-ish human ancestry.

This science indicates that fully capable people intentionally domesticated cattle in the Middle East thousands of years ago—right in line with the words of Genesis.

References

  1. Bollongino, R. et al. Modern Taurine Cattle descended from small number of Near-Eastern founders. Molecular Biology and Evolution. Posted on oxfordjournals.org March 14, 2012, accessed April 3, 2012.
  2. Thomas, B. 2012. On the Origin of Dogs. Acts & Facts. 41 (1): 16.
  3. Thomas, B. Small Dogs Came from the Middle East. ICR News. Posted on icr.org March 9, 2010, accessed April 3, 2012.
  4. Thomas, B. Where Did Apple Trees Come From? ICR News. Posted on icr.org December 22, 2009, accessed April 3, 2012.
  5. DNA traces cattle back to a small herd domesticated around 10,500 years ago. UCL News. Posted on ucl.ac.uk March 27, 2012, accessed April 3, 2012.
  6. Thomas, B. Discoveries Show Early Mankind Was Advanced. ICR News. Posted March 17, 2010, accessed April 3, 2012.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.

Article posted on May 7, 2012.

The Latest
NEWS
A Subsurface Ocean on Mimas?
Scientists have analyzed data obtained from the Cassini spacecraft and concluded that irregularities in the orbit of Saturn’s moon Mimas indicate...

NEWS
In Theaters March 20 & 21: The Ark and the Darkness
Is Genesis true? What about Noah’s Flood? How did Noah fit the animals on the ark? Wasn’t it a local flood? Have you asked these questions? Though...

NEWS
Enigmatic Fossil Plants
The pre-Flood world thousands of years ago was unlike the world of today.1 Unfamiliar animals and plants were common, and there were a lot...

NEWS
Surprisingly Colorful Fossil Snail Shells
Finding organic compounds such as flexible dinosaur collagen and complete bone cells1,2 is becoming common, much to the shock and consternation...

NEWS
March 2024 ICR Wallpaper
"He is not here; for He is risen, as He said." (Matthew 28:6 NKJV) ICR March 2024 wallpaper is now available for mobile, tablet,...

CREATION PODCAST
Homo Erectus: The Shocking Truth About the "Ape Man"...
Homo erectus, or "Upright Man," has been upheld as a piece of mankind's "evolutionary history" since its discovery in 1891....

NEWS
Mystery of Moths' Warning Sound
Insects of all types continue to amaze entomologists with their design and physiology. Cleveland Hickman, Jr., et al. stated, “insect ears are...

NEWS
Geneticist Fired for Affirming Humans Once Lived 900 Years?
Geneticist Alexander Kudryavtsev, the head of the Russian Academy of Science’s Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, has been fired, reportedly...

ACTS & FACTS
Creation Kids: Solar Eclipses
Designed by Susan Windsor* You're never too young to be a creation scientist and explore our Creator's world. Kids, discover fun facts...

APOLOGETICS
Motmot's Beauty Displays God’s Gracious Design
Beauty is God’s good gift. Whatever is truly good and beautiful comes from God (James 1:17), whose own beauty is beyond words. King David longed...