India, Oct. 23 -- For generations, cattle on Trinket Island were part of human life in India's Nicobar archipelago. Then, on Dec. 26, 2004, a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, devastating Trinket and forcing its human population to leave. The cattle were left behind.

The cattle's story took an unexpected turn, as the animals were left to survive on their own after the tsunami. Once cared for by people, they became completely feral, adapting to life on the isolated island. By 2020, researchers reported that only about 150 descendants remained, leaving the herd highly vulnerable to extinction.

The story of Trinket's cattle began more than two centuries before the tsunami. The 2020 Journal of Genetics p...