Cattle

Cattle are domesticated bovines kept for milk, meat, hides and draught, and in many societies as a measure of wealth. Herds were central to the economies and social structures of the Mutapa and Rozvi empires, whose founder Changamire Dombo began as a cattle administrator, and of the Darfur Sultanate. Steppe empires such as the Xiongnu and Mongol empires also relied on livestock, and herded cattle caused panic among Songhai forces at Tondibi.