The giant skull of a primitive cow was kept by a farmer from Buryatia for seven years. The Siberian found the find in a ravine and decided to leave it as a keepsake. He dragged her home, found a place for her in the barn. There, perhaps, the remains of the animal would have been kept for the same amount of time. If only the deputy head of the Nizhneivolginsky settlement Alexander Tsyretarov had not dropped by to visit the villager.
- I am fond of breeding dogs, - says Alexander. - I went to the Bichursky district to look at the Mongolian banhars. I heard from the locals that one of them has a large skull of the ancestor of our cows. Without much enthusiasm, I went to see what kind of skull it was and, I must admit, was impressed.
The skull is one and a half times larger than that of ordinary cows, with two large horns. There is no doubt that such animals are clearly not found on the territory of Buryatia now. Why did the farmer not tell the archaeologists about the find, because, quite possibly, it is of historical value? The fact is that he himself never attached much importance to it.
But when Alexander Tsyretarov brought photographs of the skull from the Bichurskiy district and published them on his page in social networks, his subscribers became interested in the remains of the animal.
- Woolly bison from megafauna weighing about one and a half tons, - suggested Anatoly Shobolov.
Indeed, it is very similar in the shape of the skull that it belonged to this particular animal, which previously inhabited all of Eurasia. But whether this is so or not, will now be investigated, perhaps, by the staff of the Ethnographic Museum. Negotiations are underway to hand over the remains of the ancient "cow" to them. The farmer who found the bones has already given the go-ahead.
Dmitry NISIFOROV