Spanish Fighting Bull

[1] It is exclusively bred free-range on extensive estates in Spain, Portugal, France and Latin American countries where bullfighting is organized.

They reach maturity slower than meat breeds as they were not selected to be heavy, having instead a well-muscled "athletic" look, with a prominent morrillo, a complex of muscles over the shoulder and neck which gives the bull its distinctive profile and strength with its horns.

The so-called "modern foundational bloodlines" are Saltillo, Murube, Parladé and Santa Coloma, all of which are primarily composed of Vistahermosa blood.

[4] Cattle have dichromatic vision, rendering them red-green colorblind and falsifying the idea that the color red makes them angry; they just respond to the movements of the muleta.

The red coloring is traditional and is believed to both conceal blood stains and provide a suitable light-dark contrast against the arena floor.

Fighting cattle are bred on wide-ranging ranches in Spain's dehesas or in the Portuguese Montados, which are often havens for Iberian wildlife as the farming techniques used are extensive.

[5] Both male and female calves spend their first year of life with their mothers; then they are weaned, branded, and kept in single-sex groups.

Due to their special aggression, these combats can lead to severe injuries and even death of the bulls, at great cost to their breeders.

[6] A very few times each year a bull will be indultado, or "pardoned," meaning his life is spared due to outstanding behavior in the bullring, leading the audience to petition the president of the ring with white handkerchiefs.

[11] In Death in the Afternoon, Ernest Hemingway wrote: There are certain strains of bull with a marked ability to learn from what goes on in the arena ... faster than the actual fight progresses which makes it more difficult from one minute to the next to control them ... these bulls are raised by Don Eduardo Miura's sons from old fighting stock...