Zebu

zebu (zē`by), domestic animal of the cattle family, Bos indicus, found in parts of E Asia, India, and Africa. The zebu characteristically has a large fatty hump (sometimes two humps) over the withers. It is usually fawn, gray, black, or bay. An inferior source of milk and meat, it has great endurance and comparatively long legs and has been used in India as a riding and draft animal. Zebus were first introduced into the United States, where they are called Brahman cattle, in the 19th cent. They are used in Central and South America and are well established in the Gulf states, where they are interbred with domestic cattle to produce an animal that has greater resistance to heat and to ticks than the ordinary domestic cattle and better flesh than the zebu. Zebus are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Artiodactyla, family Bovidae.

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Brahman

 or zebu

Any of several varieties of cattle that originated in India and were crossbred in the U.S. with improved beef breeds to produce the hardy beef animal known as the Santa Gertrudis. Similar blending in Latin America resulted in the breed known as Indo-Brazil. The Brahman is characterized by a pronounced hump over the shoulder and neck, horns that usually curve up and back, and drooping ears. Gray is the prevalent colour, with deep shading in the fore and rear quarters of the bull. A red strain has also been developed.

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zebu

a domesticated ox, Bos indicus, having a humped back, long horns, and a large dewlap: used in India and E Asia as a draught animal

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zebu [′zē·bü]

(vertebrate zoology)

A domestic breed of cattle, indigenous to India, belonging to the family Bovidae, distinguished by long drooping ears, a dorsal hump between the shoulders, and a dewlap under the neck; known as the Brahman in the United States.

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Zebu 

humped cattle (Bos indicus), similar in origin to domestic cattle. Some zoologists unite them in one species, Bos primigenius, believing zebus to be descendants of the wild urus; others think that the zebu is closely related to the banteng, has a common ancestor with the banteng, or is itself a descendant of the banteng.

The zebu is characterized by a hump (on the neck and the fore part of the withers) weighing 5–8 kg. The coat can be pied red or pied black, rust colored, gray, or brown. Adult cows weigh 250–270 kg, with a maximum of 550 kg, and bulls weigh 300–350 kg, with a maximum of 800 kg. It is thought that zebus were domesticated in Egypt and Asia Minor two or three millennia before the Common Era. They are found in India, Africa, the tropical and subtropical regions of America, and the Near East. In the USSR zebus are raised in the Azerbaijan SSR (Azerbaijan purebred indigenous cattle types) and in the republics of Middle Asia (the zebu-like indigenous cattle types—Khorosan and Kurama). Zebus are raised basically as draft and meat cattle. The dressing percentage of normally fattened animals is 45–50 percent. The palatability of the meat is not distinguishable from that of beef. The milk yield per lactation is 500–600 kg, 1,500 kg at most. The milk contains 4.5–5 percent fat. By mating shorthorn cows with zebu bulls, breeders in the United States have created such meat cattle breeds as Santa Gertrudis, Bradford, Brangus, Beefmasters, and Charbray. In the USSR work is being done on the hybridization of zebus with Schwyz cattle to create new meat breeds.

E. A. ARZUMANIAN