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humped cattle

noun

, (used with a plural verb)
  1. any of several breeds of domestic cattle developed from the Indian species Bos indicus and characterized by a hump of fat and muscle over the shoulders.


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Example Sentences

Madagascar is known for its zebu - the horned, humped cattle are seen all over the island and are a symbol of wealth, though many died in last year's drought.

From BBC

But it is only in this latest study that evidence of the pharaohs’ prescience has emerged: In anticipation of a crisis in their empire’s southeastern arid zones, ancient leaders ordered increased grain production in its greener parts, and crossbred local cattle with zebu, or humped cattle, to create a more heat-resistant plow animal, the researchers found.

Only later did domesticates derived from indigenous species of the Indian subcontinent, such as humped cattle and sesame, appear in Indus Valley farming communities.

Genetic evidence based on the portions of our genetic material known as mitochondrial DNA recently confirmed, as had long been suspected, that humped cattle of India and humpless European cattle were derived from two separate populations of wild ancestral cattle that had diverged hundreds of thousands of years ago.

The researchers said they drew on the fact that while the humped cattle breeds characteristic of much of Africa are susceptible to disease-causing trypanosome parasites, a humpless West African breed called the N'Dama is not seriously affected.

From Reuters

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