A long-horned European wild ox attacked by wolves. The aurochs or urus (Bos primigenius), the ancestor of domestic cattle, was a type of wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa. Extinct.. Colour printed illustration by Heinrich Harder from "Tiere der Urwelt" Animals of the Prehistoric World, 1916, Hamburg. Heinrich Harder (1858-1935) was a German landscape artist and book illustrator. From a series of prehistoric creature cards published by the Reichardt Cocoa company. Natural historian Wilhelm Bolsche wrote the descriptive text.