http://www.allmalta.com/folklore/past01.html
According to an article in The TIMES of Malta (February 6, 1998,) the local breed of cattle were described in 1915 as being “very remarkable, though hardly known beyond the narrow limits of the islands. The cow, which is fully the same size as the bull, and as powerful, is usually of very gentle disposition, and is kept only for agricultural work, for which it is an ideal animal.” These oxen were believed to be descended from a sub species of the extinct bos longifrons...
Researchers at Stanford University: Dr. Roy King, MD, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences, and Dr. Peter Underhill, Ph.D., senior research scientist in the Department of Genetics, are comparing genetic patterns with archaeological findings to track the movements of people at the end of the long Stone Age and the beginning of civilization as we know it.
British archaeologist, Dr. David Trump points out that the assumption that Malta was geographically isolated during the Neolithic era may not in fact be true. It is possible that the “people of the temples” may be related to those who built Stonehenge, the ancestors of the Minoans of Crete, and the advanced society that inspired stories of Atlantis.
http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/hybrid-bovines.htm
Bos primigenius (aurochs) and Bos longifrons (Iron Age ox) both refer to the ancestors of domestic cattle, now considered to be the species Bos taurus. the term Bos primigenius is still used to indicate the wild species aurochs.