The Aurochs from Vig

In a bog at Vig, Odsherred, the skeleton of a prehistoric aurochs was found in 1905 during turf digging. The enormous animal weighed almost 1000 kg, and its shoulder height was almost 2 metres. It was the largest and most dangerous animal in the forest. However, the aurochs was unable to withstand the arrows of the Stone Age hunters. Aurochs grazed in Denmark in the last phase of the Ice Age, but disappeared again as the sea level rose. The Aurochs from Vig died over 10,000 years ago. On Zealand and Fyn aurochs died out 7000-7500 years ago, but in Jutland it survived until the beginning of the Iron Age. 

The species is known from bone finds which are over a million years old. In the Stone Age the aurochs was widespread in parts of Europe, Asia and in North Africa’s coastal areas. Today the aurochs is extinct, having been wiped out by man. The last European aurochs was killed in Poland in 1627.