The original cattle of Africa were humpless (taurine) cattle able to survive under trypanosomosis pressure; this biological singularity is called trypanotolerance. There are many breeds of taurine cattle in West Africa. Currently, the total taurine cattle population is increasing, but the number of humped (zebu) cattle is increasing faster. Moreover, within the wide variety of taurine breeds, some have very small population sizes and are threatened by extinction in the short term. The main causes of the decline of taurine breeds are described in this paper, and some thoughts about conservation issues are given.