bull
... It shows male and female acrobats confronting a bull, grabbing its horns as it charges, and vaulting over its back. ... The men that wielded the capes aided the horsemen in how the bull was positioned during the fight. ... Bulls used for bullfighting are a special breed of animal and their lives and breeding reflect that fact: "This Spanish fighting bull is a long way removed from the Hereford or the Jersey, or even the Texas longhorn. ... This fighting bull is called Bos Taurus Africanus. This bull is a descendant of Bos Primigenius or the Primordial Bull. ... In the eyes of the spectator, the last twenty minutes of the bull’s life are what matters. The fighting bull lives the life of peace in nature until it is time for the fight, having the best pastures and rations of food than that of its cousins, the domesticated cow. ... Experts determine which calves will become fighting bulls by grading "the animal’s attitude, style, speed, smoothness, nervousness or calmness, nobility and mode of going for the cloth lures," (Machnad 41) After the bull has matured he is put into a traveling box and taken to his final destination. ... In the bullfight itself, the matador has many different moves in his arsenal along with weapons that he uses to survive and to dispatch the bull. ... A derechazo is a pass where the matador attempts to regulate and direct the charge of the bull. ... The matador will walk steadily into the path of the bull shaking the cape the entire time until the bull passes under the cape of the moving matador. ... This phrase means planting the feet, slowing 5 down and smoothing out the bull’s charge, and dominating the bull and controlling it’s path, respectively. ... When the bull charges, the matador waits until the animal is about six feet away, then flips the cape over his head.