Ash's Tauros

Ash's 30 Tauros are a herd of Tauros that were captured by Ash in the Kanto Safari Zone.

Biography
Ash spent a lot of time in the Safari Zone in The Legend of Dratini, attempting to catch as many Pokémon as he possibly could. However, all he managed to catch were 30 Tauros, as they always ran in front of his Poké Balls when he tried to catch another Pokémon. All 30 were sent to Professor Oak's lab.

Since Ash captured the Tauros in a banned episode, it led to some confusion from viewers as they wondered how and when Ash had obtained these Tauros. The anime only mentions the events of the banned episode once, in Showdown at the Po-ké Corral, where Oak mentions that Ash captured the thirty Tauros in the Safari Zone, with out giving the details on how he captured them.

The herd are mainly seen to be stampeding. Mostly, this occurs in the wide open space at the lab. Their stampeding has been put into good effect, as they woke up Ash's Snorlax when the Professor needed it. However, their stampeding has also damaged properties, like when Ash first returned to Pallet Town when they stampeded through a fence and when they stampeded through the lab, leaving a huge hole in the wall.

Ash decided to use one of the Tauros in his battle against Drake, in Hello, Pummelo! and Enter The Dragonite. Initially, he was confused by Gengar's Confuse Ray and had to be recalled. Tauros was then sent out to battle Drake's Venusaur, which he defeated by himself. He then went on to weaken Dragonite before being defeated.

Ash used Tauros as part of a Tauros-battle tournament in Tricks of the Trade, which he went on to win. Tauros was also used against Gary in Can't Beat the Heat!, where he was defeated by Gary's Nidoqueen.

Upon Ash's return to Pallet Town following his adventures in Hoenn, the Tauros charged towards him along with his other Pokémon. However, in their excitement, they carried Ash off and he had to be rescued by Bayleef. In Talking a Good Game and Second Time's the Charm, Ash used Tauros to battle against Salon Maiden Anabel.

Despite capturing all his Tauros in green Safari Balls, and these being seen in storage at Oak's lab, Ash always uses regular red Poké Balls when sending his Tauros into battle. It is possible he released and recaptured the one he always uses so that he knows for sure it is his best one.

Voice actor

 * Katsuyuki Konishi (Japanese and English)

Trivia

 * Brock caught a Tauros at the same time that Ash caught his first Tauros. Because of this, some believe that Brock should own a Tauros, and the writers forgot about it in subsequent episodes. However, he caught him using one of Ash's Safari Balls, and therefore he is one of the thirty belonging to Ash.
 * It has never been revealed whether Ash uses the same Tauros whenever one of them is transferred to him or if Professor Oak simply sends him a random one each time. However, it is likely that the one Ash uses is the leader of the herd.
 * Despite them all being captured in green Safari Balls, they all have regular Poké Balls when Ash calls them into battle.
 * Ash was offered a Rhyhorn in exchange for his Tauros after winning the Tauros battling competition. Ash had tried to capture a Rhyhorn in the Safari Zone, but a Tauros ran past and was captured instead. Despite this, Ash chooses to keep his Tauros.
 * Tauros is Ash's only Pokémon to have used a one-hit knockout move.
 * Tauros is the only Pokémon that Ash has more than one of.

Gallery
Taurosy Asha Tauros de Ash