Ankole-Watusi

This article is about the modern American cattle breed. For the African group of breeds from which it derives, see Ankole (cattle).

The Ankole-Watusi is a modern African breed of domestic cattle. It derives from the Ankole group of Sanga cattle breeds of east and central Africa. It is characterized by very large horns.

Ankole-Watusi

Conservation status	FAO (2007): not listed[1]: 125
Country of origin	United States of America
Traits
Weight	Male: 450–730 kg[2]: 110  average 590 kg[3] Female: 410–550 kg[2]: 110  average 476 kg[3]
Coat	usually red
Horn status	horned, large thick horns
Cattle Hybrid Bos (primigenius) taurus/indicus

History

The Ankole-Watusi derives from cattle of the Ankole group of Sanga cattle breeds of east and central Africa. Some of these were brought to Germany as zoo specimens in the early twentieth century, and from there they spread to other European zoos. Some were imported to the United States, and in 1960 a herd was started in New York State by cross-breeding some of them with an unrelated Canadian bull.^[2]: 110 A breed society, the Ankole Watusi International Registry, was set up in 1983,^[2]: 110 and in 1989 a breed standard was drawn up.^[4]

The total number of purebred animals was estimated in 1984 at 120 head;^[5]: 260 in 2016 the total population was thought to be approximately 1500 head, some 80% of them in the United States.^[2]: 110 In 2025 the conservation status of the breed was listed in DAD-IS as "at risk/critical maintained" – based on a population estimated at 100 to 500 for the year 2022^[3] – while on the watchlist of the American Livestock Conservancy it was listed as "recovering".^[6]

Characteristics

The coat may be of a number of different colors, but is usually red. Body weights are in the range 410 to 550 kg for cows and 450 to 730 kg for bulls.^[2]: 110 The horns are unusually large, with a wide spread^[2]: 110 and the largest circumference found in any cattle breed. Guinness World Records lists a bull named CT Woodie with a horn circumference of 103.5 cm (40.7 in) and a steer named Lurch, with horns measuring 95.25 cm (37.50 in), as record-holders.^[7][8]

First parturition in heifers is usually at about 24 months.^[3] Calves weigh some 15 to 25 kg at birth.^[6]

• 
  In a safari park near Cambridge, Ontario, in Canada
• 
  Bulls at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in California
• 
  At a zoo