In North Africa and parts of Eurasia, aurochs likely roamed alongside  and perhaps even hunted with the disappearing mammoths. In Lithuania,  aurochs settled nearly eight thousand years ago. During the time of  Gediminas, these impressive wild cattle, standing at approximately two  meters in height, were already rare animals, and the privilege to hunt  them was granted only to high-ranking nobility. This is why, in the  Bychowiec Chronicle's account of the founding of Vilnius, Gediminas is  said to have hunted an aurochs. It is believed that the last aurochs  were killed in the early 17th century in Poland, and now only their  distant descendants, cattle, roam and graze in enclosures, as  domesticated cattle are derived from aurochs. However, the mighty  aurochs still echoes in our folklore, especially in legends and  proverbs. Although as early as the 19th century, it was proven that the  only common features between aurochs and domestic cattle were their  size, four hooves, horns, and humps, Lithuanians considered (and many  still consider) aurochs and bison to be relatives, sometimes even  equating them entirely. About this, in the mid-19th century, Lithuanian  ethnographer Liudvikas Adomas Jucevičius, who participated in the  Lithuanian National Revival, wrote: 'Aurochs are called differently in  Lithuania: in the Gardinas region - "žubris", in Vilnius and Kaunas -  "tūras", in Samogitia - "žiobris", and among the Prussians in Lithuania -  "tūris"...