<P> They are descendants of the first cattle in the New World, brought by Christopher Columbus and the Spanish colonists, and have a high drought - stress tolerance . Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring, and can be any color or mix of colors, but dark red and white color mixes are the most dominant . </P> <P> Registries for the breed include the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America, founded in 1964 by the Kerr County rancher Charles Schreiner, III; the International Texas Longhorn Association, and the Cattlemen's Texas Longhorn Registry . </P> <P> Genetic analyses show the Longhorn originated from an Iberian hybrid of two ancient cattle lineages: "taurine" descending from the domestication of the wild aurochs in the Middle East, and "indicine", descending from the domestication of the aurochs in India, 85% and 15% respectively by proportion . The Texas Longhorns are direct descendants of the first cattle in the New World . The ancestral cattle were first brought over by Christopher Columbus in 1493 to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola . Between 1493 and 1512, Spanish colonists brought additional cattle in subsequent expeditions . The cattle consisted of three different breeds; Barrenda, Retinto and Grande Pieto . Over the next two centuries the Spanish moved the cattle north, arriving in the area that would become Texas near the end of the 17th century . The cattle escaped or were turned loose on the open range, where they remained mostly feral for the next two centuries . Over several generations, descendants of these cattle evolved the high feed - and drought - stress tolerance and other "hardy" characteristics that Longhorns have become known for . </P> <P> Early US settlers in Texas obtained feral Mexican cattle from the borderland between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande and mixed them with their own eastern cattle . The result was a tough, rangy animal with long legs and long horns extending up to seven feet . Although this interbreeding was of little consequence to the makeup of a Longhorn, it did alter color . The varieties of color ranged from bluish - grey, and various yellowish hues, to browns, black, ruddy and white, both cleanly bright and dirty - speckled . Portuguese cattle breeds, such as Alentejana and Mertolenga, are the closest relatives of Texas Longhorns . </P>

Where did the texas longhorn cattle originate from
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