Zebu cattle (Bos indicus), with their characteristic hump and pendulous dewlap, are known to have descended from the secondary cattle domestication in the arid areas of the 'Fertile Crescent' about 5000 BP (Payne and Wilson, 1999). Available archaeological records indicate that they are the most recent types of cattle to be introduced into Africa. Recent molecular genetic as well as archaeological evidences (Hanotte et al., 2002; Marshall, 2000) also showed that the introduction of zebu cattle into Africa centred in East Africa rather than though the land connection between Egypt and the Near East. Zebu are known to be better than the humpless cattle in regulating body temperature (hence lower body water requirements). Their hardened hooves and lighter bones enable them to endure long migrations. These adaptive attributes have facilitated their importation and spread by Indian and Arabian merchants across the Red Sea to drier agro-ecological regions of the Horn of Africa (Loftus and Cunningham, 2000). The Large East African Zebu breeds of cattle, like the present-day Boran of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, and the Butana and Kenana of the Sudan are very similar morphologically to the zebu breeds of Asia. Mainly pastoral communities in the Horn of Africa maintain them.
Breed Origin :
A stabilized fixed cross of the Sudanese Fulani Zebu and the N'Dama in southwestern Mali and adjoining parts of Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso; body conformation is consistent but body size and coat colour vary according to location, those in the drier north have larger body size and lighter coat colour while those to the wetter south are smaller in body size and darker (brownish); any presence of a hump is cervico-thoracic (Epstein, 1971). [NOTE: Rege et al. (1994) have a different definition of Mere, only found in Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire].
Main Location:
Found in southern and western parts of Mali, northern parts of Cote d'Ivoire and south-western Burkina Faso. Also reported in Central African Republic.
Habitat:
Special
Characteristic:
Show variable phenotype (especially body size and coat colour) from parental breeds. Any sign of hump occurs on the neck (cervico-thoracic).
