Forest Bull

What it is

The Forest Bull is a monstrous ox from the bestiaries, the old books that gather animals both real and imagined. Its homeland is given as Ethiopia. Pliny the Elder pictures it as a savage tawny breed whose mouth gapes open as far as the ears. Its horns work like those of the Yale, another legendary beast: they turn whichever way the animal pleases, and once lifted for battle they stay raised. Aelian makes it larger still, calling it a flesh eater twice the bulk of an ordinary bull, the most savage animal known, and red-haired. Weapons were said to be useless against it. Modern catalogues file it as a cryptid, an animal known from reports rather than specimens, and place it among the cattle of myth.

Where it comes from

The beast reaches us through ancient writing about Ethiopia. Pliny the Elder records its tawny, savage cattle in his Natural History. Claudius Aelianus describes the same animal in his book on the nature of animals, where it bears a name rendered as flesh eater. The Greek name attached to it, Tauros Aithiopikos, translates as the Ethiopian bull, and a Latin form adds 'forest'. From these two accounts the creature passed into the medieval bestiaries, compilations of animals both observed and marvellous, copied and added to through the Middle Ages. Catalogues of mystery beasts today list it as a cryptid and group it with the cattle of religion and myth.

Peoples and places

Ethiopia is the only home the accounts give the animal. Two human groups enter its tale. Herdsmen of the region are said to have protected their flocks by digging deep ditches, pits that caught the bulls and ended them; Aelian describes the trapped animals choking on their own fury. The Troglodytae, a people of the neighbourhood whose name means cave-dwellers, are recorded as declaring it king of beasts, and the recorded judgement calls that ranking deserved.

What people believe

The tales grant the animal a hide no weapon can open. Spears and arrows were said to glance off, and even iron to turn aside. Its appetite is the other marvel: Aelian calls it a flesh eater and the most savage of beasts, one that ran down wild herds and horses for food. Human praise completes the picture. The Troglodytae, cave-dwelling neighbours, are recorded as naming it chief of beasts and crediting it with the finest traits of lion, horse and bull at once.

Compare and confuse

Two animals sit beside it in the literature. The Yale, another legendary beast, is the comparison the old account itself draws: that creature's horns also turn as it pleases, and the Forest Bull's are described in the same terms. The African forest buffalo stands next to it in modern lists of related animals. Pliny the Elder and Aelian remain the standard authorities cited for the animal.

Questions people ask about Forest Bull

Good reading and sources

• Forest Bull on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data