Pliny: Natural History, Vol. III

XV. It is not our concern to give a meticulous account of all the other species of animals that have reached Italy more frequently by importation from all quarters. Scythia, owing to its lack of vegetation, produces extremely few; its neighbour Germany produces few, but some remarkable breeds of wild oxen, the maned bison, and the exceptionally powerful and swift aurochs a type of extinct wild ox, to which the ignorant masses give the name of buffalo, though the buffalo is really a native of Africa and bears some resemblance to the calf and the stag.

XVI. The North also produces herds of wild horses, as do Asia and Africa of wild asses, and also the elk, which resembles a bullock save that it is distinguished by the length of its ears and neck. Also, there is the achlis an unknown northern animal, perhaps a moose, born in the island of Scandinavia and never seen in Rome, although many have told stories of it. It is an animal that is not unlike the elk but has no joint at the hock and consequently is unable to lie down but sleeps leaning against a tree. It is captured by the tree being cut through to serve as a trap, but it nevertheless has a remarkable turn of speed. Its upper lip is exceptionally big; on account of this, it walks backward when grazing, so as to avoid getting tripped up by it in moving forward. There are reports of a wild animal in Paeonia called the bonasus, which has the mane of a horse but in all other respects resembles a bull; its horns are curved back

in such a manner as to be of no use for fighting. It is said that because of this, it saves itself by running away, meanwhile emitting a trail of dung that sometimes covers a distance of as much as three furlongs, contact with which scorches pursuers like a sort of fire.