Ronald Goderie Wouter Helmer Henri Kerkdijk-Otten Staffan Widstrand
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AUROCHS born to be wild
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
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the
AUROCHS born to be wild The comeback of a European icon
Ronald Goderie Wouter Helmer Henri Kerkdijk-Otten Staffan Widstrand
THE AUROCHS BORN TO BE WILD THE COMEBACK OF A EUROPEAN ICON AUTHORS Ronald Goderie, Wouter Helmer, Henri Kerkdijk-Otten, Staffan Widstrand MAIN PHOTOGRAPHER Staffan Widstrand/Rewilding Europe and Wild Wonders of Europe: Cover, opening papers, 6–7, 8–9, 10–11, 12–13, 16–17, 18 top, 18 bottom, 19, 21, 24–25, 26, 29, 33, 40, 44–45, 47, 48–49, 50 top and bottom, 51 middle, 54–55, 61, 62 top and bottom, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68–69, 70, 75, 80, 81, 85, 104–105, 106–107, 111, 112 bottom, 113 top, 115, 116–117, 119, 120, 121, 122–123, 126, 130–131, 132 top and middle, 133 top, 134, 135, 138–139, 141, 142–143, 146, 147, 153, 158–159, end papers. OTHER PHOTOS Achensee Tourismus: 112; Bridgeman Art: 76–77; Chen Wei Seng: 108–109; Clive Mason/Getty Images: 90-91, Coplandj/Dreamstime.com: 93; Enrique Ramón Oliver: 110; Erlend Haarberg/Wild Wonders of Europe: 51 top; Florian Möllers/Wild Wonders of Europe and Rewilding Europe: 15, 145, 150–151; Grzegorz Lesniewski/ Rewilding Europe: 50 middle, 51 bottom; Javier Trueba/Msf/Science Photo Library: 34–35; Jean-Pol Grandmont: 102 bottom right; Jesse Beals/Icon SMI/Corbis: 57; John McNamara/World Museum of Man – www.WorldMuseumofMan.org: 127; Juan Carlos Muñoz/Rewilding Europe: 62, 86–87, 124–125, 133 middle, 154–155; Lascaux/Vache à la collerette/N. Aujoulat © MCC/CNP: 78–79, 96–97; Marcel van den Bergh: 66; Marcel van den Bergh/Taurus Foundation: 132 bottom; Mark Hamblin/Wild Wonders of Europe: 52–53; Markus Varesvuo/Wild Wonders of Europe: 18 middle; Morton and Eden auction 51, lot 126: 94 bottom; Musées royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Bruxelles: 102 bottom left; Neil Gossage/Bounce Time: 95, Niall Benvie/ Wild Wonders of Europe: 17 bottom, 27 top, 28, 71; Pedro Armestre: 103; Rieger Bertrand/Getty Images: 46; Ronand Goderie/Taurus Foundation: 133 bottom, 136; Sebastià Giralt: 94 top; Wikimedia Commons based on a Greek vase Tarquinia Museum Italy: 5; ‘Bestiaire Latin’: 58; Swiss Federal Department of Finance FDF/Federal Mint Swissmint: 111 bottom; The Trustees of the British Museum: 59, 98, 100–101; Txemanet/Dreamstime.com: 99; Vincent Munier/Wild Wonders of Europe: 30–31, 38–39
Part of the royalties of this book go to the Tauros Programme.
This book is published with support from the following partners:
The following wildlife pictures were taken in some kind of controlled conditions: 45 bottom, 48–49, 50 top, 51 middle, 62 bottom. ILLUSTRATIONS Daniel Foidl: 83 top, 128; Derek Lucas: 36; Dick Rietveld: 82; Esther Linnartz/FREE Nature: 22; Gregor Frisch: 84; Heinrich Harder/Superstock: 37; Tom Hammond: 72–73, 83 bottom left and right; Jeroen Helmer/ARK Nature: 20, 23, 27 bottom, 41, 88–89, 148, 152; Mauricio Antón: 42–43; Roel Venderbosch: 149 EDITOR Staffan Widstrand GRAPHIC DESIGN Kristjan Jung
Rewilding Europe Toernooiveld 1 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands T +31 (0)6 30 54 33 87 E info@rewildingeurope.com I www.rewildingeurope.com
Captions (page 5–13): p 5: Princess Europa and Zeus in the form of a bull, Greek stamnos vase, from Tarquinia in Italy, 2,500 years ago. p 6–7: The Limia is a cattle breed from Galícia, Spain, and is part of the Tauros Programme in The Netherlands. p 8–9: Dehesa oak savannah woodland in the Campanarios de Azaba reserve in the Salamanca district of Spain. The dehesas in Salamanca and Extremadura are some of the largest remaining grazing and browsing landscapes in Europe today. p 10–11: Two bulls locked in a classic head-to-head wrestling pose in order to determine their place in the hierarchy. p 12–13: An aerial view of the mosaic savannah in the Letea reserve in the Danube delta, Romania. This may be Europe’s best remaining example of a mosaic landscape as the result of centuries of natural grazing behaviour by deer, wild horses and cattle.
Postbus 4103 7200 BC Zutphen, The Netherlands T +31 (0)575 54 56 88 E info@roodbont.nl I www.roodbont.nl
Stichting Taurus Postbus 1117 6501 BC Nijmegen, The Netherlands T +31 (0)24 324 38 57 E info@stichtingtaurus.nl I www.stichtingtaurus.nl
ARK Nature E info@ark.eu I www.ark.eu
© 2013 all images: the respective photographers © 2013 all texts: the authors © 2013 Roodbont Publishers B.V. No part of this publication may be duplicated, photocopied, reprinted or reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the publisher. The authors and publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy and completeness of information contained in this book. However, we assume no liability for damage of any kind resulting from actions and/or decisions based on the content of this publication. ISBN: 978-90-8740-161-0
Wild Wonders of Europe E info@wild-wonders.com I www.wild-wonders.com
Table of contents Foreword
Europe’s defining animal
1. Cowscapes
116
Born to be Wild
7. The rewilding of Europe
90
In the mist of history it is easy to get lost
6. The Aurochs 2.0
72
The beauty of the beast
5. The Bull story
54
The taming of a legend
4. The animal
30
Cool wildlife in a thawing continent
3. Extinct, but still kicking
12
The ecological value of bullshit
2. Ice Age II
4
142
Making Europe a wilder place
Glossary
156
Foreword Europe’s defining animal The aurochs was an extraordinary animal. Not only was it a keystone species in the natural surroundings where it lived and which it helped to shape, but it also became crucially important for the history of modern mankind. The aurochs turned into man’s most valuable animal, the ancestor of all cattle, of every domestic cow and bull in the whole world. The taming of the aurochs lead to prosperity, the founding of civilisations, the rise of empires, nations and religions. It meant milk to the children, cheese and yoghurt to the people and draught power for the plough. It meant survival and population growth, wealth and capital. Europe’s first higher civilisation, the Minoans, had a bull monster, the Minotaur, at the centre of its cult. In Greek mythology the god Zeus once took the shape of a bull, when he swam over from Crete to present day Lebanon and snatched away a beautiful Phoenician princess. Her name was Europa. The aurochs has always been at the very root of the whole idea of a continent called Europe. It is in fact our continent’s defining animal. It was driven to extinction by the actions of man, but could actually also be brought back by the actions of man. We mean that this amazing animal simply deserves not just this book, but also a comeback plan.
Frans Schepers, Ronald Goderie, Managing Director, Rewilding Europe Director, Taurus Foundation
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Cowscapes 12
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Chapter 1 — Cowscapes
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Cowscapes The ecological value of bullshit No plant or animal can live entirely on its own. In order to understand the aurochs, we have to start with the surroundings where the animal lived and which it was part of developing. The landscapes, climate, neighbours and enemies. These are all part of a pattern, a complicated and fascinating interdependent web of life called an ecosystem. The aurochs spent more than 700,000 years successfully carving out its specific niche in several European ecosystems, side by side with a number of ‘colleagues’ among the other large-sized vegetation eaters, the herbivores. For thousands of years, millions of these wild large herbivores had an enormous impact on Europe’s ecosystems. An impact that up until now has been clearly underestimated by generations of biologists and ecologists. Only recently have we started to better understand the massive influence these animals must once have had. Grazing and browsing with their front end, trampling with heavy weight and sharp hooves with the middle, relieving themselves from their rear end, and at the end of their lives dying and becoming carcasses. All vitally important features for a multitude of other species, from butterflies and microbes to fungi, birds, beetles, reptiles, plants and trees. Among the grass eaters, the aurochs, with its great eating and cellulose-processing capacity, its herd behaviour and its abilities to reproduce, was the most important keystone species. The ecological value of bullshit has defined the natural heritage in Europe for thousands of years.
Chapter 1 — Cowscapes
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Growing up together The relation between man and the large herbi-
these two species in a new position in the human
vores runs like a common thread throughout the
minds. They were no longer seen as part of nature
history of mankind. Try imagining the agricul-
but instead as part of the cultural landscape. As
tural civilisations all over our continent without
if we had produced them ourselves. So when we
their cattle, donkeys or horses. Who would have
try to draw a mental line between man’s realm
pulled the plough? Who would have pulled
and nature’s, the horses and cattle tend to stay on
the wagon to the market? The very foundation
‘our’ side of the fence. Even today, this makes it so
for farming would have been lost and most of
difficult for many people to imagine that aurochs
Europe’s old cultural landscapes would never have
and wild horses were always a part of nature, a
come into existence. Empires would not have
crucially important one even, and that they could
been built.
become part of that nature again, even as a part of
No wonder then that, after the extinction and
16
Europe’s wildest wilderness. Psychology, culture
taming of the large herbivores, we were all easily
and the way we choose to look at things often
led to believe that these animals were forever
overrules logic, knowledge and science.
disconnected from Europe’s nature. The domes-
However, in evolutionary terms, the taming of
tication of horses and cattle in particular placed
cattle is just a domestic variation on a wild theme
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Morucha Negra cow (above) in the Salamanca region in Spain. Cattle and aurochs have kept the lands open for tens of thousands of years, and with it all the biodiversity connected to these. Like the autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale) growing on cow manure in the Danube-Drava National Park, Hungary (previous page).
that is millions of years old. Man-made pastures are just variations of natural grasslands, the surrounding hedges are just variations of natural thickets and the cattle themselves are just variations of the aurochs. Most of the plant and animal species in Europe, which these days we would identify with grasslands, meadows and hedges, were of course already here long before man even appeared on the stage. The aurochs lived here for hundreds of thousands of years. Long before any cave paintings were ever made, the imprint of the aurochs was already immortalised through a colourful palette of thousands of plant and animal species that had developed together with it.
A stag beetle (Lucanus cervus), Europe’s largest beetle, which is dependent on oak trees. Oaks are in their turn dependent on grazing pressure to keep competing tree species at bay.
Chapter 1 — Cowscapes
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Abandoning the land After the ecosystems had developed harmoniously with wild herbivores for millions of years, and then for another 10,000 years together with a few domesticated versions of them, large parts of Europe’s countryside are now suddenly facing a new situation. Nearly one million hectares per year are at the moment left empty, deserted by the shepherds and subsistence farmers. Vast open landscapes, that many hundreds of years ago lost all their wild horses, ibex and aurochs, are now also losing their domesticated relatives and counterparts. This means that the driving force behind a lot of Europe's biodiversity, the variety of life, Fritillary (Melitea sp), a nectar specialist, in Velebit, Croatia.
possibly up to 50% of it, will be gone in just a few decades. Without large amounts of large herbivores doing their job, landscapes will quickly overgrow with bush and young forest. This of course benefits another set of species, but a set that is not threatened, unlike the unique set connected to the grazed open landscape. Moreover, and especially so in the drier and warmer Southern Europe, the bush overgrowth of open or sparsely wooded landscapes produces an immensely increased risk for large-scale, man-made forest fires. All of a sudden, there is much more burnable material and this bush grows right under the trees. With the disappearance of the large herbivores, their job as the creators of natural firebreaks has disappeared, fires become more frequent and their heat is more
Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), a carrion specialist, in Extremadura, Spain.
intense and the damage to the trees is worse. The disappearance of these open landscapes is a problem recognised by many conservationists, so they have tried, with the help of significant subsidies, to keep older, but no longer profitable farming methods alive, even though there is not a market for the produce. This has also been recognised by the European Union, which with many billions of euros a year tries to support this synthetic maintenance of open landscapes. So all over Europe grass is cut with machinery and then dumped in the forest, just to get the subventions. In many areas livestock is now kept only because of subventions. The intentions are good – keeping the open landscapes open – but many of the methods might not be, and some are even counter-productive,
French lavender (Lavandula stoechas), a sign of cattle grazing.
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
also against rewilding efforts.
Billions to be saved and earned This is because we collectively seem to have forgotten that nature itself has already organised the survival of all those species and the open landscapes in a much cheaper and better way. Ten thousand years of domestication has blurred our vision. Maybe, after first having had the period of pre-domestication, in which people hunted the wild animals, often to extinction, followed by the period of domestication with the present-day livestock industry as its most extreme manifestation, space could now be created also for the post-domestication, returning some space to the original native herbivores and again let them do what they always did before: graze some of the
Burnt-tip orchids (Orchis ustulata) are dependent on grazing pressure.
landscapes. Rewilding the aurochs and giving it back its natural character and role would by far be the most important step in such a post-domesti cation. Not instead of livestock, we continue to require milk, cheese and meat, but instead of bush overgrowth, loss of biodiversity and instead of wasteful subventions. There are billions to be saved and earned in this field. There are about as many opinions as there are ecologists about what Europe’s landscapes really looked like before man and the agricultural revolution. In particular, the relationship between forest cover and open lands. Some believe that it was all a ‘forest where the squirrel could jump from tree to tree from the Atlantic to the Urals and from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean’. Others believe there must have also been huge
Red legged partridge (Alectoris rufa), a bird living in open, dry land.
areas of grasslands, vast steppes, mixed mosaic savannah landscapes and open, grazed savannah woodlands. Many of these discussions could be solved by thinking less in fixed generalisations and instead realising that things have changed constantly over time and space.
‘More than almost anything else the aurochs is the true European icon.’ Harebells (Campanula rotundifolia), connected to pastureland.
Chapter 1 — Cowscapes
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Rejuvenating closed canopy forest
W i gr tho az ut in g
Wit h gr
azin g
FOREST LIFE-CYCLE ON SANDY SOILS
d an re fi e , m as o r is e t d S Closed canopy forest
Forested and open landscapes Taking into account the huge diversity of the
Clearings caused by storms, fires, disease or ice
European landscapes (altitudes, soils, climate,
eventually overgrow again. The rate at which
minerals, bedrock, volume of rainfall, hours of
this happens strongly depends on the presence
sunshine per year, etc.) and given the amazing
of herbivores. If these are absent or only there
variety of species here, we can safely assume that
in low numbers then such open spaces will be
the forests and the open landscapes have always
filled with young trees again within a few years.
come in pairs. Forest growth in the one direction
If larger numbers of herbivores are present that
and the animals eating vegetation, also called
process can take between decades and centuries.
herbivory, combined with other natural factors
Long enough to always offer a suitable habitat in
like storms, fires, insect infestations, etc. in the
the larger landscape for the thousands of species
other. They are opposite forces, balancing each
that depend on access to the open sky, sunlight
other over time and place, a dynamic balance that
and relative warmth. Finally, maximum natural
looks slightly different everywhere.
densities of herbivores can locally even take
On steep mountain slopes or in the northern
themselves, by debarking trees and eating all of
upper hand, but also here storms, fires, bark beetle
the young tree shoots that spring up. Something
attacks, ice, avalanches and landslides will create
that creates open mosaic forests with large
open spaces, which in summer can be used by large
amounts of dead wood, perfect for a high forest
herbivores. At the other end of the spectrum are
biodiversity. You could say that, where natural processes
Europe, with so little rain that herbivores can easily
open up the forest, the herbivores will ensure that
dominate, even over long periods of time, espe-
there are always open areas somewhere. Because
cially if helped by natural fires on a regular basis.
of the way aurochs and their descendants eat, they
In many other areas, the vigour and the growth power of the forest usually dominates.
20
down forest cover and open up the landscape
taiga forests, forest and tree cover often has the
the steppe regions of Southern and South-Eastern
The Aurochs — born to be wild
The life-cycle of a forest is longer than most might think. What many often call ‘forest’ is just one of the stages in this cycle. In natural landscapes the regular open stages with grazing animals are just as much part of a ‘forest’.
played and still play an incredibly important role in this process.
The aurochs and its descendants, the cattle, are entirely designed for eating grass and digesting the cellulose in it. While at the same time doing so produces open landscapes and rich biodiversity.
Chapter 1 — Cowscapes
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Muskox Roe deer
Wild ass
Fallow deer Wild reindeer
Wild horse
Red deer
Chamois
Mouflon Water buffalo
Ibex Elk
Aurochs
European bison
Wild boar BROWSERS
Saiga antelope INTERMEDIATE FEEDERS
GRAZERS
A bulk eating trailblazer Typical for cattle is that it does not graze with
other herbivores can easily find the food they need.
its teeth, like horses, or deer do, but that it
This process, called facilitation, creates a mosaic
instead pulls the grass, leaves or herbs with its
of vegetation, partly medium long, that is grazed
tongue. Rather than being a highly selective food
by cattle, and partly much shorter, which is grazed
specialist that takes only the short grass or just
by horses and deer and then further cropped by
nibbles the tops of shrubs, the cattle are eaters
rabbits, hares and other smaller herbivores. All of
of bulk food. It simply eats the lot, but most of it,
it mixed with flowering fields, emerging thickets,
over 80%, is grass. If needed, cattle have shown to
single trees, forest edges and mature forest. Voila,
be quite flexible and could survive on a diet with
there is the palette of vegetation types that are
far less grass, but grass is what they are built for.
prime habitats for Europe’s wealth of many thou-
Cattle are nature’s grass processing machines.
sands of species of plants, birds, small mammals,
They do not graze for long time in one place but
fungi, reptiles, butterflies and other insects.
tend to move around widely over the space. By
22
Whereas for horses their manure also plays an
doing so, cattle contribute, more than any other
important role in defining their territories, this is
European herbivore, to keeping landscapes open.
much less the case for cattle. They just drop their load
Cattle are trailblazers for a number of other
as they go along, even in the water, when they take
herbivores, which have difficulties in digesting long
a bath or go to drink. This widespread fertilising is
grass. Once cattle have opened up the vegetation,
another crucially important factor in the ecosystem.
The Aurochs — born to be wild
This is a full set of the large European herbivores that are needed to keep Europe’s ancient open landscapes alive and well. To the left you see the specialists in browsing bushes and trees, while moving to the right the animals increasingly become grazing specialists.
The other one kicks the dust Not only the cattle’s food choice, but also their
seasons. The larger the area, the greater their
behaviour has a major impact on the natural
effect is on differentiating the landscape.
landscapes. Because of their natural enemies, they
remain in large herds, creating clear, beaten tracks
for example, deer or horses. Cattle are not flight
through the landscape; well trodden routes, which
animals designed to only run away from the
in terms of soil structure, soil fauna and vegeta-
threat, instead they can choose to stay together
tion are quite different from the grazing grounds.
and if needed take the fight head on. The combi-
Herds of aurochs (below) had a great impact on the vegetation, and in turn on other wildlife as well. Kicking dust (next spread) is one of the ways for the bulls to impress each other.
When moving from one area to another, they
have a different defence strategy compared to,
Finally, the bulls establish their position
nation of horns, muscle mass and living in a tight
within the hierarchy in a number of different
herd make these animals difficult prey, even for
ways. One is by head-to-head showdowns, but
bears or wolves. Standing in a circle, with the
even more commonly through impressing each
calves in the middle and the horns outward, they
other by kicking up dust and sand in front of the
form a pretty efficient defence.
opponent, as well as rolling themselves in this
This type of herd behaviour also has major
dust. This creates something called ‘bull pits’,
implications for their land use. The animals
often several per hectare, that are small,
are not evenly distributed over the landscape,
bald/grassless spots in the vegetation, but big
but move around in large groups together.
enough for the needs of pioneer plants and
Concentrated in one place, and virtually absent
animals. An ideal habitat for sand bees, wasps and
from the rest of the area. This results in a tempo-
beetles to reproduce in and lizards, snakes and
rary and locally high grazing pressure, which
tortoises to find suitable places to have their eggs
moves through the area, depending on the
hatched by the sun’s heat.
Chapter 1 — Cowscapes
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
Chapter 1 — Cowscapes
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Moving with the herds Food, water and safety are not always available
mountains, where grass, rich in protein, was
in the same place. Under natural conditions this
more available than in the hot lowlands, while
forces animals to migrate elsewhere. Such wildlife
snow depth and climate exposure would have
migrations are well known in other continents,
forced them down again for the winter. On the dry
but in Europe, domestication, herding, farming
Spanish plateaus or in some steppe areas in the
and fencing has caused this natural migratory
Balkans, a similar movement took place between
behaviour to disappear. However, all across
the lusher river valleys in summer and the plains
Europe, from Southern Spain to Scandinavia
in winter, since the latter could not offer enough
and from Ireland to the Balkans, herdsmen have
water for survival in summer.
moved their herds according to the seasons and
species of plants and insects to migrate through
days, this is a folkloristic event at best in most
the European landscapes. Some seeds got widely
areas, but in some areas this seasonal migration
dispersed via cattle fur, other seeds by passing
is still a living part of animal husbandry. Often
through the cattle’s digestive system all the way to
these movements followed the pattern of summer
the end product, which in itself is highly appreci-
grazing in the high mountain pastures and winter
ated by many insects.
grazing in the river valleys. This pattern is most
Predators – early man among them – followed
probably not invented by man, but could rather be
the herds, while scavengers of all kinds benefitted
a remnant of wild, natural migration routes.
from their victims. The return of wild cattle to
Under natural conditions, the aurochs
the European landscapes is therefore one of the
would have withdrawn in summer to the cool
26
Migrating cattle also helped hundreds of
the best grazing opportunities for centuries. These
The Aurochs — born to be wild
ultimate goals of rewilding.
The Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) is one of the largest and most specialised among these (above). Large herbivores provide a supply of carrion for the many hundreds of species that depend on that food source, from beetles and butterflies to fungi, mammals and birds (next page).
Death, a vital part of life Aurochs were immense animals, the adult bulls, weighing in at approx. 1,000 kilos, were even larger than the bison. This also means that no other European mammal through its death can leave more food behind for scavengers than wild cattle do. Moreover, the fact that these animals live in herds and in relatively open terrain greatly increases the chances of success for the scavengers to find their carcasses. The death of a cow is the basis for survival of hundreds of other species. From the smallest microbes to the large black vulture and from wolves, foxes, jackals and ravens into an array of carrion beetles, flies, butterflies, microbes and fungi. Yet other species use skin or hair for nesting purposes or take advantage of the local accumulation of calcium or lime from the dissolving bones.
The Mediterranean banded centipede (above) or scolopender (Scolopendra cingulata) also likes carrion. Not the carrion itself, but it eats the various other ‘creepy-crawlies’ that come along for the party.
‘After the mammoths and wooly rhinos had gone extinct, the aurochs was the largest land mammal in Europe.’
Chapter 1 — Cowscapes
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Natural grazing or livestock? Well, since the role of cattle and other herbivores
that even thorny saplings will not survive, while
is so vitally important to the ecosystems, couldn’t
forests stay untouched due to the absence of
this role just be filled by domestic livestock? In
animals in the winter.
a way, yes it can, but only to a certain extent. Domestic herbivores, which are mostly so-called
3. High densities of livestock in summer with
seasonal grazers, are certainly better than none at
seasonal grazing leads to overfertilising and over-
all, but natural grazing by wild natural grazers is
trampling of soils and vegetation.
far better for nature in almost every aspect. Here are ten reasons why:
4. Natural grazing leads to many herbs, like thistles and burdock, not being eaten in summer time.
1. Natural grazing means that animals are
In autumn their seeds get attached to animal fur
outdoors on the land, all year round. In natural
or serve as a food source for (migrating) birds.
grazing, the number of animals is limited by
Overgrazing with domestic livestock often hinder
the amount of food during winter. In short,
these herbs to develop.
this means that there is an abundance of food during summer with massive flowering and seed
5. Natural grazing leads to great interaction
production. In seasonal grazing, the numbers are
between different species of grazers like deer,
instead determined by the farmer and usually
cattle, horses and bison. Competition and facili-
much higher (up to 30 times) compared to natural
tation between species strongly leads to a greater
grazing. This causes higher grazing pressure
variety of life. With livestock grazing often only
during summer, with less flowering and an
one species of herbivore is used. Also predation
absence of the explosion of life.
from carnivores leads to a varied grazing pressure and greater biodiversity.
2. In natural grazing animals need to search for alternative food sources during winter; twigs,
6. Social interactions within the wild herds create
stems and bark. This is the period in which they
many habitat variations at a micro scale. Actions
have the strongest influence on trees and wooded
like calving/foaling, fighting stallions/bulls, dung-
vegetation, creating a mosaic pattern of open
hills, sand baths, paths, rut and so on. In domestic
grasslands, thickets and woods. Especially the
livestock farming there is a lack of this social life
transition zones between these are very rich in
and usually the groups of animals consist of only
life and diversity. Seasonal grazing instead creates
one sex and one age group.
sharp boundaries between open, overgrazed meadows and forests with untouched woody
7. Seasonal grazing lacks the build-up of knowl-
plants. Summer pastures are grazed so intensively
edge in a herd about water and food sources, which is passed on between generations during natural grazing. Seasonal herds are instead renewed yearly.
Black-veined white butterfly (Aporia crataegi) on red clover (Trifolium pratense), Kaunergrat Naturpark, Tyrol, Austria.
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
Ancient grazing landscape in the Velebit mountains, Croatia. This area is now almost completely abandoned and is set to be one of the breeding areas for the Tauros Programme.
8. From a tourism point of view it is far more
10. To prevent economic loss due to animal
attractive to see wild grazers with all their social
illness, farmers are likely to use many types of
behaviour. Take for example the red deer rut,
medication. This helps also the weaker animals
which is a world-class spectacle to watch. Similar
to survive. Anti-worm medicines, antibiotics
behaviour can be seen within rewilded herds
and hormones leak into the ecosystem, affecting
of cattle. The natural landscapes with natural
insects, frogs and fish and in their turn the birds
grazing are blooming landscapes, more varied,
that eat them. In natural grazing only the fittest
Muskox (Ovibos moschatus) are slowly coming back to Europe, after having been completely exterminated in this region by man after the last Ice Age (next spread).
with new surprises around every corner.
survive to mate and have calves.
9. Within natural social herds, the newborn are
Natural grazing is very different compared to
raised by their mothers and fostered within the
seasonal grazing and it has a very different
rest of their herd and the animals do not have
impact on its surroundings. For nature reserves,
any affections towards humans. The animals go
rewilding areas and nature-restoration projects,
their own way and do their own thing without
domestic livestock grazing therefore is a very poor
paying much attention towards people. Domestic
and synthetic solution. Heavily subsidised, exten-
livestock, instead has a tight relation with humans
sive livestock grazing might be able to show us
from birth. Separated from their mothers at a
something about our past, like in a museum, but
very young age. Groups of one year-olds are kept
economically it holds little future and ecologically
together, lacking adult animals to correct their
it is a very poor alternative to natural grazing. It
juvenile behaviour. Domestic bulls might even see
just can’t be compared to the explosion of life that
the farmer as a competitor.
comes with natural grazing.
Chapter 1 — Cowscapes
29
Ice Age II 30
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Chapter 2 — Ice Age II
31
Ice Age II Cool wildlife in a thawing continent With the latest Ice Age at its peak, some 20-30,000 years ago, the lowlands of Western, Central and Eastern Europe were covered by a vast dry tundra-steppe reaching far into present-day Mongolia. Here, there lived an impressive array of cold-adapted mammals: woolly mammoth, woolly rhino, muskox, reindeer, steppe bison, elk, wild horse and others. Bears, wolves, wolverines and lynx were in their pursuit. Further south and east there lived aurochs, red deer, roe deer, wild boar, wild ass, saiga antelope, ibex and chamois, which were hunted by lions, hyenas, jackals and leopards. South Eastern Europe was also inhabited by fallow deer and Eurasian water buffalo. As the continent rapidly thawed and the tundra changed into grasslands and mosaic savannah woodlands, many of the southern and eastern animals migrated north-westwards, while the northern species followed the edge of the ice. Across these enormous grassy plains, large herds of aurochs, wild horses, red deer and bison now roamed the land, not unlike the herds of buffalo, zebra, impala and wildebeest still do in several large African national parks. Immense volumes of water were locked in the ice, bringing sea levels much lower than today. The present day North Sea was in these times a vast area of grassland that linked what now is Britain to the European continent, and here the aurochs and its grazing colleagues happily moved in. What happened to all these animals at a later stage, and how was early mankind involved?
Chapter 2 — Ice Age II
33
Times of change Our journey starts at the end of the latest Ice Age,
elephant, the rhino and the hippo, but also popu-
approximately 12,000 years ago, which also marks
lations of wild horse, aurochs and wild donkey,
the end of what is called the Pleistocene geological
took refuge in the southern Peninsulas such as
period and the start of what is called the Holocene
Iberia, Italy and the Balkans. Some species, like
period, in which we live now.
for instance the water buffalo seem to have left
Over the hundreds of thousands of years before that, several other ice ages had followed
onset of the Ice Age.
one another, with warmer periods in between,
South of the ice fields, North and Central
called interglacials. During these ice ages, there
Europe had a dry tundra-steppe climate. Large
were also warmer periods, when temperatures
grasslands dominated the scene, interspersed
would rise, the ice sheets would retreat slightly
with stands of pine, juniper and spruce, birch
and animal species would migrate back and forth,
woods and bogs. This world was occupied by cold-
since some of them were adapted to colder condi-
adapted species like the woolly mammoth, woolly
tions and others were not.
rhino, muskox, reindeer, steppe bison, elk and
At the start of the last Ice Age, about 112,000
34
Europe completely and retreated into Asia at the
wild horses. Predators like lions, leopards, jackals
years ago, most of the animals that preferred
and hyenas were more restricted to warmer
warmer temperatures, such as the European
parts in Southern Europe whereas bears, wolves,
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Ecologists call it the ‘shifting baseline syndrome’: the idea that nature as we experienced during our own youth is seen as the ‘normal’ version. The Chauvet caves tell us the real story: 30,000 years ago Europe had many more species and far, far bigger herds of wildlife than we have today. Like the wild horse (Equus ferus), one of its closest decendants today being the Exmoor pony (previous page).
wolverines and lynx were spread all over Europe,
became suitable again for plants and bushes to
except for those parts that were permanently
grow, which in turn could sustain a new set of
covered by ice.
animal life.
On a geological timescale changes normally
Already about a thousand years after the end
occur gradually and over a long time. However,
of the Ice Age, the climate had become much
after the latest Ice Age, things actually changed
warmer, with temperatures that could rival or
rapidly and quite drastically. Temperatures rose
even surpass those of today.
quickly, the climate changed and with it sea levels, vegetation and wildlife. The end of this Ice Age signalled a great
Animal species that had taken refuge in Southern and Eastern Europe were now able to migrate back to the north in search of fresh
change, starting a completely new era in the
grazing grounds. However, the fauna that now
history of Europe and for the creatures here.
migrated to the north was not quite the same as
Ice sheets and glaciers were melting and lost
that which had migrated south tens of thousands
terrain without again recovering their former
of years earlier. Quite a few species were missing.
winter extent. This process soon speeded up.
So what had happened to them in Southern
Lands in Northern Europe that once had been
Europe?
covered by ice were gradually freed, the soils
Chapter 2 — Ice Age II
35
Prelude to extinction All animal species are prone to change, due to
strategies. They were also better armed giving
changing climate, vegetation and competition
them another advantage over the small groups
from other species. In nature change and adap-
of Neanderthal humans. Increased results from
tation is the normal flow of life, it is what makes
hunting meant more food and human popula-
the clock tick. Nothing stays the same. Normally,
tions were able to grow, leading to an even higher
animal populations have enough time to adapt
hunting pressure.
and to recuperate lost numbers over time, which they had done at the end of every previous ice age
was called the Atlatl, a tool that uses leverage to
before that. But at the end of the last Ice Age, one
produce greater velocity in throwing darts and
of these circumstances had changed dramatically.
spears. Later, during the last period of the Ice Age,
There were new kids on the block. During the
humans invented the bow and arrow. Arrows
Ice Age a new type of humans appeared on the
could be fired at a quick rate and they had a wider
scene, and especially in the warmer Iberian and
range than Atlatl darts. Human populations kept
Italian peninsulas: Homo sapiens or modern day
on growing and the hunting pressure really began
man. These newcomers had outcompeted the less
to influence wildlife populations and even entire
advanced so called Neanderthal people who had
species, especially those with a slow reproduction
lived there before them. Homo sapiens were able
rate. Where normally a predator does not kill off a
to better communicate with each other in more
prey-species completely, the rules had now changed.
advanced ways, which led to better organisation
The largest animal species were the first to
and the ability to use more advanced hunting
36
The first new hunting weapon they introduced
The Aurochs — born to be wild
succumb to the new hunters.
Quite soon after the Ice Age, several of the largest land mammal species in Europe had disappeared. Gone were the herds of elephants, mammoths, rhinos and hippos. However, there were still quite large numbers of large animals like aurochs, wild horse and red deer.
Hunted to extinction Large mammals like elephants and rhinos repro-
The European elephants could simply not repro-
duce at a very slow rate. For instance, the gesta-
duce fast enough to recover. Their populations
tion period of an elephant is 22 months, which
gradually dwindled until a tipping point after
means that it takes about two years before an
which they simply collapsed and disappeared.
elephant delivers its baby. Human hunters have
Adult aurochs knew how to handle predators like wolves (below). Wild tundra reindeer (Rangiferus tarandus) also almost disappeared and today only survive on Hardangervidda, Dovre and Forollhogna in Norway (next spread).
This sad fate was also bestowed upon other
the tendency to single out individual big game
large animal species like the rhino and the
because those individuals are obviously easier to
hippopotamus. Hippos were confined to rivers
hunt than a social group or herd of animals that
and lakes and were even easier to hunt to extinc-
can defend themselves and even counter-attack.
tion. When the modern humans after some time
Elephant society is structured in such a way that
began to migrate north in larger numbers, the
all leading reproducing males live solitary lives.
same fate also hit animals like the woolly rhino
So if you single out those individuals, the elephant
and the mammoth. At the same time the gradual
population will have a hard time to reproduce and
warming of the climate changed some of the
recover sustained losses.
tundra habitats and that did not help these large
This is probably what happened during the Ice Age. Elephant populations on the peninsulas were
animals either. Predators like cave bears, lions and hyenas
partly cut off from the rest of Europe because of the
were also mainly confined to the southern penin-
Pyrenees and the Alps, mountain chains that were
sulas. Since they were in direct competition, the
hard to cross, and they sustained bigger and bigger
humans hunted and killed them off quite early on.
losses without the possibility to fully replenish
Lions were still to be found in Iberia after the Ice
those losses with immigration from other areas.
Age, but they didn’t survive long after that.
Chapter 2 — Ice Age II
37
38
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Chapter 2 — Ice Age II
39
40
The Aurochs — born to be wild
After the last Ice Age, the main mammal immigration route into Western and Central Europe was from Central Asia and the Middle East through the Balkans and Eastern Europe.
From south to north and east to west At the beginning of the Holocene, our own geological period, around 12,000 years ago, the
in Southern and Central Europe quickly trans-
climate warmed up very fast. Sun-loving plants
formed into somewhat of a park-like mosaic
from the southern parts of Europe started finding
landscape. Coniferous trees were replaced by
their way back north again, their seeds carried
deciduous broad-leaved trees, with oak species
by wind, water and in the bellies or the furs of
dominating the scene. The grassland landscape
animals. Many palaeontologists and ecologists
was dotted with bushes, flowering trees and
have for a long time believed that with the end
shrubs and fruit trees like wild apple, wild pear
of the Ice Age, forests started spreading to the
and wild plum. Trees were used by climbers like
north. More recent research has revealed that
honeysuckle and wild clematis. It really was a
life was a bit more complicated than that. Trees
bit of a Garden of Eden with a rich insect life, a
definitely returned to the north, but the grazing
high diversity of bird species, herbivores and
and browsing patterns that kept the trees in check
carnivores and large numbers of animals. The
were still in place.
large grazers and browsers found food aplenty
Apart from the elephants, hippos and rhinos,
Of the large predators, the lion, cave bear, hyena and leopard all disappeared — only the wolf and the bear managed to survive in Europe to our days. Man exterminated the others.
Because of the rapid warming, the landscape
and they maintained their own landscape and
the rest of the large wildlife species were still
vegetation structure, keeping open spaces open.
there, such as: aurochs, wild horse, wild donkey,
Even with some of the megafauna now missing,
red deer, elk, water buffalo coming in from the
the first millennia after the Ice Age seem to have
southeast, and wild boar virtually everywhere.
represented very high levels of European biodi-
Somewhere in time and along the way the steppe
versity. Because of the open landscapes, it is now
bison that was typical for the Ice Age tundra
believed that the herbivores must have been
ecosystems also evolved into the wisent, or
present in rather large herds. This of course varied
European bison, as we now know it. And those
depending on the productivity of the soils and the
wisents started colonising Europe from the east,
climate - the warmer and more damp the area, the
reaching most of Europe, except Iberia, Italy
more animals it could sustain. Scandinavia, espe-
south of the Po River and the northern parts of
cially the north, had lower animal densities based
Scandinavia. Archaeological finds have shown
on less food being available, a shorter growing
that they were already present in the place of the
season and harsher winters. But where did all
current North Sea at the end of the Ice Age.
these animals immigrate from?
Chapter 2 — Ice Age II
41
Recolonisation process The scientific community used to believe that
numbers. This does not mean that animals did not
Europe was recolonised with wildlife coming
cross those mountain chains, but the genetic data
from the southern refuge areas like Iberia and
paints a clear picture of where the new animals
the Italian Peninsula, but as later genetic research
up north came from. From genetic research
showed, Central and Northern Europe were actu-
carried out on remains of aurochs and wild horses
ally mainly recolonised by animals and species
from these times, we know for sure that they
coming from the east. This is in accordance with
migrated from present-day Southern Russia and
the way the large mountain chains are situated:
the Ukraine. The archaeozoological data strongly
east-west migration is far easier than north-south.
suggests the same for the wisent, which seems to
The fact that the still glaciated Pyrenees and Alps
have evolved from the older steppe wisent, a bit
presented great barriers and the added problem
further north in Russia.
that humans were more and more present there
42
To get a better understanding of this recolo-
probably made it too difficult for much of the
nisation we need to remember two things. The
southern wildlife to move north in any greater
first is that the Black Sea did not exist at the
The Aurochs — born to be wild
A possible scene from a northern European river bed some 20,000 years ago: a mosaic landscape with woolly mammoth, red deer, wild horse, woolly rhino, aurochs and wolf.
time. Instead, there was an impressively sized
Mediterranean started to pour salt water into that
freshwater lake, into which the large rivers of
lake, greatly extending the present body of water
the Danube, the Don, the Dnepr and the Volga
and creating the Black Sea.
emptied, creating an immense wetland area at
The second thing that is important to under-
its northern end. This meant that animals could
stand is that Europe basically is nothing more
move pretty freely east-west from present-day
than a peninsula of Asia, since there is really no
Ukraine and Southern Russia, and since also the
clear boundary between the two. Therefore, we
Bosphorus straits did not exist yet, animals from
are not talking about specific Asian species or
present-day Turkey could also migrate all along
European species, but often rather about Eurasian
the southern shores of the freshwater lake into
species. All this time, animals have been free to
the Balkan Peninsula and the rest of Europe. The
move between the two ‘continents’ and many of
Black Sea came into existence later, about 7,600
them, especially the open-country species, have a
years ago, when the Bosphorus, the waterway that
distribution area that is spread both across Europe
separates Asia from Europe, overflowed and the
and Asia.
Chapter 2 — Ice Age II
43
44
The Aurochs — born to be wild
An elk (Alces alces) shedding the velvet off its antlers by rubbing them against bushes, twigs and branches.
An Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica) ram, ready to ram his head against his competitor’s. This animal has staged a wonderful comeback, with its numbers mounting from 5,000 to 60,000, with man’s help slowly spreading again to all the mountain regions of Spain once again.
The wolf (Canis lupus) is definitely on its way back, all the way even to the Netherlands. It was the first animal to be domesticated because it was such a good hunter and served as a guard at night.
Chapter 2 — Ice Age II
45
Trouble in paradise The aurochs was one of the first top herbivores
lake and up along the Danube. Most people may
to walk straight back into Central and Northern
think of water buffalo as a tropical species, but
Europe from Asia. There it took great part in
water buffalo actually perform better in some-
shaping the vegetation of the landscapes, of
what cooler climates. Wild water buffalo were
course together with other both large and small
also present in swamplands in the Middle East,
herbivores. According to recent research finds we
supporting the theory that they once occupied a
know that lions were not only present throughout
far larger range than that of today.
the subcontinent, but they also lived and hunted
zebras and wildebeest in Africa and then imagine
hunting greater numbers of sizeable prey; other-
similar large herds of aurochs in a diverse grass-
wise a large predator pack cannot survive. This
land and parkland ecosystem with lots of other
supports the other findings showing that large
wildlife. This is what Europe looked like in the
prey, such as aurochs, bison and wild horses, must
early Holocene, 7,000–9,000 years ago.
have been present in large herds as well.
46
Think for a second of the large herds of buffalo,
in large prides. This only seems logical when
Wildlife were not the only creatures to find
Remains of wild water buffalo have been
their way back north and westward. Humans
found predominantly in Eastern and South-
followed the wildlife in search for new, better
Eastern Europe, all the way up to Austria, which
hunting grounds. Groups or clans of humans
supports the theory that they migrated along the
were larger and better organised than they had
lake shores of what was to become the Black Sea,
been some thousand years earlier. It seems as if it
through the wetland areas to the north of that
became a race against time.
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Judging from what we know from other sources, the images painted in the Lascaux caves 17,000 years ago are amazingly accurate. Wild horses and aurochs were at the time still around in large numbers.
Deeper into the forests The large herds were constantly thinned out by
packs of human hunters could not follow them as
humans who enjoyed an ever-growing supremacy.
easily. Others, like the aurochs gradually retreated
In the period that began approximately 9,000
into deeper forests and moorlands.
years ago, the wildlife populations were being
Not all animals were able to shift environ-
depleted at an alarming rate. Hunting camps from
ments like that. Water buffalo for instance were
this period have been found with only aurochs
completely dependent on waterways for their
remains, so it seems that herds of aurochs were
survival. Since humans easily travelled along
hunted on a large, targeted and professional scale,
these, water buffalo was the next large herbivore
a bit like the Plains Indians did with American
to disappear because of overhunting.
bison in North America. It is also soon after this time that some of the Stone Age humans made the transition from hunters and gatherers to farmers and herdsmen. One of the first stages of this process was to domesticate animals, something that was necessary in order to sustain the growing population. Wildlife species adopted a number of strategies to escape hunters and extinction. For example, the ibex and the chamois originally were animals that inhabited also lowlands and hillside country. In the face of being hunted down, they migrated higher up into the mountains where
From archaeological finds we know that wild Eurasian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) made it back to Europe after the last Ice Age, via the Danube river all the way up to Austria. Here, the early hunters killed them all, except possibly here in the Danube delta in Romania and in some isolated sites in the Balkans.
Chapter 2 — Ice Age II
47
48
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Chapter 2 — Ice Age II
49
Competition Sometime between 8,000 and 7,000 years ago, the first Europeans started to learn to make use of domestic plants and animals, ensuring a more stable food supply. In Central and Northern Europe domestic forms of animals seem to appear suddenly in the archaeological records, indicating that they were probably brought there from their original points of domestication in the Middle East. Wild animals were still hunted though, although hunting was not as necessary as before. One might have thought that less hunting would have meant that wildlife populations could recover. However, the opposite happened. Instead European bison (Bison bonasus), Kennemerduinen NP, The Netherlands.
of seeing the wildlife primarily as a source of food, the humans started looking at these animals as competitors to their own livestock. Especially grazing animals were seen as competitors and our ancestors wanted to make sure that their cattle and other livestock could graze on the best feeding grounds. The wildlife was therefore forced to continue their retreat into even more inhospitable places, to avoid being killed because they got in the way of the domestic livestock. Wild animals were chased away from all the best grasslands. The most fertile lands were sown with crops and all sorts of barriers were put up to keep wildlife out. The predators suffered as well. Domestic livestock were fiercely guarded and the wild herbivores dwindled in numbers, so predators
Roe deer, (Capreolus capreolus), Bieszczady National Park, Poland.
both found less food than before and were hunted down to prevent them from attacking livestock. Lion numbers throughout Europe were reduced and they were driven to the corners of the continent, like the Balkans where they managed to persist right up to about 100 AD.
Wolverine (Gulo gulo) in Kuhmo, Eastern Finland.
50
The Aurochs — born to be wild
This spread shows some of the large wildlife species in Europe after the last Ice Age. The European bison (previous spread and top of this page) almost met the same fate as the aurochs and the wild horse: in 1927 there were only 13 breeding individuals left, all of them in zoos. But they were saved and are now slowly being reintroduced to a number of sites across Europe.
Further decline During the period between 6,000 and 2,000 years ago, a new kind of vegetation began to take over. The numbers of domestic grazers were not high enough to keep all the open landscapes open and the numbers of wild grazing animals had been greatly reduced. This allowed for a greater dominance of trees and large patches of closed canopy forests to develop. There is still a lot of debate on just how open those forests must have been or not. We know that several light-demanding tree and plant species persisted well, so the old myths of a closed canopy forest stretching from the southern tip of Spain to the northernmost taiga forests, is definitely
Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) survived only in high alpine zones.
not correct. A network of grassland and half open landscapes must have existed for the light demanding species to survive throughout Europe. We also know that the beech tree cannot handle browsing and grazing pressure very well. The beech started to appear in Central and Northern Europe about 5,500 years ago. This indicates that the grazing pressure had by then indeed been reduced, although it did not disappear completely. Around 4,000 years ago, the human populations had grown larger than ever, breeding domestic livestock was in full swing and the clearing away of forest cover of the ‘wild lands’ began. This is also the time when the first recognisable civilisations appeared in Europe. Humans had settled and had banded together in tribes, which basically consisted of a multiple extended
Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) is slowly on its way back in Europe.
families grouped in clans and a collection of clans forming a tribe. Archaeologists from these times also find items from other parts of the continent, so trade routes had been established and humans begun to leave a very clear mark on the landscapes and its wildlife. The clearances of many of the ‘wild woods’ rose to a degree which seems to have matched and maybe even surpassed the size of the open landscapes of the period right after the Ice Age. Only that this time the landscapes were not dotted with wild animals anymore, but instead with domestic cattle, horses, sheep and goats.
Wild-living Hutul horses near the Bieszczady National Park, Poland.
Chapter 2 — Ice Age II
51
Game, set and match
52
In Southern Europe, with emerging civilisations
Thousands of aurochs bulls were captured and
on the Italian and Balkan peninsulas for instance,
brought to the arenas to perform bloody fights
this process took place somewhat earlier and at a
for the Roman public. Wildlife, instead of just
faster pace. In Central and Northern Europe, the
being a source of food, had found a new, for them
equilibrium seems to have been maintained until
deadly, market value. This rapidly speeded up the
the early Middle Ages, when the last remaining
decline of the aurochs and other wild animals
large wildlife really began to disappear. The
in the Roman occupied territories and dealt a
Roman Empire, which started to build up about
serious blow to their populations. At the begin-
2,100 years ago, conquered much of Europe and
ning of the Middle Ages, the aurochs was still
brought an even more organised form of civi-
a fairly widespread species throughout Central
lisation. The Romans were truly amazed by the
and Eastern Europe, although nowhere in its
aurochs and wisents still present in Europe north
preferred habitat. During the high Middle Ages,
of the Alps at the time, species which had since
between the 11th and 14th century AD, the number
long been gone from the Mediterranean areas.
of humans again grew dramatically with cities
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Red deer in the Oostvaardersplassen reserve in the Netherlands, one of few places in Europe with natural numbers of large herbivores. That means about one large herbivore per hectare at this location! A skull from an aurochs from Lund, Sweden (next spread).
expanding everywhere. Animals like aurochs and
It is safe to say that if humans had not been
wisent suffered drastic declines. At the end of the
around to upset the balance, Europe would still
period, both species were confined only to the
have had a wildlife diversity that in many ways
present-day Poland, where they survived in very
could have matched that of Africa or India.
small numbers on hunting reserves protected by the higher nobility. Although protected, they still suffered from further hunting, poaching, domestic cattle diseases, war, famine and neglect. Numbers continued to dwindle rapidly until the last aurochs cow died in 1627 AD and the bison were eradicated from the wild in 1927. The aurochs, the King of the Wilderness, who had once dominated and shaped the vegetation of the land-
‘If humans hadn’t upset the balance, Europe would still have had wildlife numbers matching those of Africa or India.’
scapes all across Europe, was no more.
Chapter 2 — Ice Age II
53
Extinct, but still kicking! 54
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Chapter 3 — Extinct, but still kicking!
55
Extinct, but still kicking! The taming of a legend The aurochs sadly went extinct as a wild species in 1627. Which is not that long ago, but still long enough to have slipped out of our spoken memory. However, its genes are still very much alive. One could even argue that the aurochs has been one of the most successful species on Earth, since its offspring, with man’s help, today has become the most numerous of all large-sized mammals. At the moment, the number of cattle globally has been estimated at around 1 billion. That roughly translates to about one cow or bull per five humans. Over the 10,000 years that have passed since the first aurochs was domesticated, its genes have been dispersed between a number of different cattle breeds, where some have more of the original genes and others have fewer. That DNA puzzle is right now, for the first time in history, being unravelled, piece-by-piece by modern science. It somewhat reminds one of a CSI scene, with pieces of bones, skin, teeth and marrow being analysed in laboratories by people in white lab coats, mouth masks and silicone gloves. So what do the sad remains of these impressive animals tell us? Where did they all come from? When and where did the taming of the aurochs begin? And then what happened? The aurochs may have gone extinct, but it is still kicking...
Chapter 3 — Extinct, but still kicking!
57
Starting in the Middle East and India Sometime after the end of the latest Ice Age, about
12,000 years ago, a cultural revolution started
across the world began to domesticate animals. In
that had the most profound impact on the planet
addition to dogs, goats and chickens, the aurochs
and the human race to date: the process of
was one of the first in line. It cannot have been an
domesticating plants and animals. This period
easy job; taming a creature with a shoulder height
has been called the Neolithic revolution or the
of about 180 cm and with horns of up to a meter’s
Agricultural revolution. It had been kick-started
length. It takes organisation, and the right mate-
by the invention of the atlatl and the bow and
rials to carry out something like that.
arrow in the last stage of the Ice Age, as more
The cultures that domesticated the aurochs therefore must have had higher levels of organisation, reasonably permanent types of settlement
58
When the ice sheets finally pulled back about
12,000 years ago, people in a number of areas
food could be hunted and human populations began to expand. The increased hunting pressure and a great
and early forms of farming taking shape. Before
shift in the climate resulted in a wave of extinc-
the Ice Age there were some rival human species
tion of the large, so-called megafauna species at
around, like the so-called Neanderthals in Europe
the beginning of the age that the geologists call
and Denisovans in Asia. After the Ice Age, Homo
Holocene, around 12,000 years ago. Animals and
sapiens, modern man, was the only human species
plants collected from the wild all got more scarce.
left. They had been successful in wiping out and
Humankind had to adapt if it were to survive. In a
integrating all their human rivals, and were estab-
struggle to get a better grip on their food supplies,
lished on all continents except Antarctica.
humans began to farm and herd.
The Aurochs — born to be wild
From aurochs to cow. Domestication of the aurochs started in the Middle East and India about 10,500 years ago. The image is from the book ‘Bestiaire Latin’, France, from 1260 AD. Bull-riding at a rodeo at the Calgary Stampede, Canada (previous page).
A Stone Age revolution Archaeological finds indicate that the domestica-
greater and more efficient armies, hierarchical
tion of different kinds of plants and animals prob-
ideologies and religions, new types of property
ably first started about 12,000 years ago in what is
regimes and the development of writing, which
called the Fertile Crescent in present-day Turkey,
greatly boosted the ways of communication and
Iran, Syria and Iraq in the Middle East.
recording information.
The Neolithic Revolution involved far more
been vulnerable to outside attack or dangerous
ducing techniques. During the following thou-
animals, they could now retreat behind city walls,
sands of years this would transform the small and
palisades and fences. Cultures started to take
mobile groups of hunter-gatherers into societies
shape, ideas started to spread and instead of being
permanently based in villages and towns. This
busy to find and process food all day, time became
also radically changed the natural environment.
available for other things.
Crop cultivation needed water irrigation systems, Classic Greek culture started with cattle. Cattle held a central place in society and its religious ceremonies. On this 2,460 year-old Attic amphora, two virgins are preparing bulls for sacrifice.
Where small bands of humans had earlier
than the development of a limited set of food-pro-
This revolution therefore is the greatest
food storage techniques and separate areas for
turning point in history. It’s not the invention
the cultivated plants. It meant that surplus food
of the wheel that was the most important, but
could be produced, which led to high population
instead creating the conditions that made it
densities in settlements, the creation of special-
possible to invent things such as the wheel. In fact,
ised professions, trading economies, transpor-
if the Neolithic revolution hadn’t taken place, we
tation systems, more sophisticated forms of art,
would still be hunting animals and digging up
architecture, and culture. It also led to central-
roots, just like during all the hundreds of thou-
ised administrations and political structures,
sands of years before agriculture started.
Chapter 3 — Extinct, but still kicking!
59
Animals please It quickly became more profitable and possible
The Eurasian aurochs
to keep animals permanently near the human
(Bos primigenius primigenius) lived across Europe
settlements. Learning through trial and error led
and Central Asia.
to success. Before any domestication could take place, animals had to be selected on certain char-
The North African aurochs
acteristics, and then caught alive. Factors that had
(Bos primigenius africanus) came from aurochs
to be taken into account were the usefulness, size,
populations migrating from the Middle East. Its
temperament, diet, lifespan and mating patterns
looks were similar to the Eurasian subspecies, but
of the animals. Some provided milk, which offered
still genetically distinct from it. Ancient North
a reliable and permanent source of protein as
African rock drawings indicate that this aurochs
opposed to others that could only be slaughtered
may have had a light saddle marking on its back,
once for their meat. Certain animals could be used
instead of the yellowish-white eel stripe along the
for their working power, pulling ploughs, carts or
spine, characteristic of the Eurasian subspecies.
wagons or they could be used as tractive power for
The aurochs in North Africa most likely died out
other things. On top of that, certain animals could
before the Middle Ages.
provide leather and hides and their dung was very valuable as a fertiliser. So humans began to domesticate the aurochs,
Domestication of the aurochs took place on two main occasions and probably quite independent
since these could deliver all of the values
of each other. We can be sure of this fact because
mentioned above and in great supply. This must
of DNA studies. One area is the research done
have been a huge undertaking. Animals had to
on so-called mitochondrial DNA haplotypes.
be caught, tamed, housed, fed and properly taken
Haplotypes can be explained as being like a type
care of. We lack written historical sources about
of ‘genetic blood group’. By studying the haplo-
the domestication of the aurochs. However, we
types and their diversity, we can understand
do have archaeology and archaeozoology and
where cattle were first domesticated. The more
painted representations. Over the last twenty
genetic diversity we record in the haplotypes of
years, state of the art research about ancient DNA
cattle from an area, the more probable it is that
has taught us a lot about the process of domes-
this area is a domestication hotspot. The results
tication. Via what is called mitochondrial DNA,
can then be combined with what we know from
which is inherited only from the mother’s line,
other sources, like archaeology.
we can estimate when and even where aurochs
The main haplotype present in all cattle
were domesticated and when domestic cattle
breeds coming from the Middle East is called the
began to split off from the aurochs. That knowl-
T-haplotype. It turns out that the T-haplotype is
edge has confirmed the conclusions previously
the most diverse. The highest diversity of it can
drawn from archaeological research, but at the
be found in the Middle East, notably in the area of
same time brought us a lot more details about
present-day South-Eastern Turkey, Syria, Iran and
the domestications of one of the mightiest
Iraq. This conclusion is also supported beyond any
animals in Eurasia.
doubt by archaeological findings there.
It became clear that there had been three types or subspecies of aurochs:
The oldest finds of domestic cattle date approximately 10,500 years ago. At that time the Middle East was an area of large rivers, swamps
60
The Indian aurochs
and riverine habitats, especially along the mighty
(Bos primigenius namadicus) was the first aurochs
Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Not quite the desert
subspecies to appear. The wild aurochs in India
area it is today, it had a much wetter climate and
persisted until about 6,000 years ago. Since it
together with the large rivers supported a rather
probably lived at the edge of the north Indian
green landscape where also wild Eurasian water
Thar desert, this subspecies was probably more
buffalo lived. People began to domesticate the
resistant against drought and heat.
aurochs that were living in large numbers here.
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Taming a powerful animal like the aurochs can’t have been easy. They probably started with capturing calves from aurochs herds, raising them by hand and then making selections based on docility in the next generations.
Chapter 3 — Extinct, but still kicking!
61
Tamed in two or three places The fact that the Middle East is the birthplace of some of the oldest civilisations on Earth is no surprise. This area was not only fertile, but it had been largely unaffected by the latest Ice Age as well. These conditions helped to develop more complex societies, which were able to also start up things such as domesticating large, wild animals like the aurochs. The cattle breeds originating from this area are nowadays called Taurine cattle, and scientifically speaking, they are called Bos primigenius taurus. The same research techniques have been used for the other major domestication area, which Zebu bull from Pantanal in Brazil, with their typical ‘shoulder hump’.
involved the Indian aurochs. The oldest remains of Indian cattle found suggest that they were domesticated around 9,500 years ago in the Indus Valley in present-day Pakistan. All cattle that stem from this domestication event are identified by the so-called I-haplotype, and scientifically called Bos primigenus indicus. So the second domestication of the aurochs took place in Pakistan and India and happened somewhat later than the first in the Middle East. The Indian aurochs was better adapted to drier and hotter conditions than its Middle Eastern relative, and the offspring from the Indian aurochs, called the Zebu or Zebuine cattle, are still better adapted to hot and dry conditions, more so than purebred Taurine cattle. There is debate surrounding a possible third domestication that could have taken place in what
Sayaguesa cow in the Campanarios de Azaba reserve, Spain.
is now Egypt in North Africa. Cattle remains have been found there from the time between 9,500 and 8,000 years ago, but the scientists are not yet quite sure if they were truly domestic cattle or stem from the local aurochs. The last place in Eurasia where cattle appeared was in China and Korea and more notably Japan. The first domestic cattle seem to have entered China around 5,000 years ago, which is substantially later than in Europe, North Africa and Central Asia. Extensive genetic research carried out in China has revealed that southern China was populated with Zebuine cattle and northern China with Taurine cattle.
Modern cattle are not used to wolves, but some of the older breeds are.
62
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Domestication as a process CSI-evidence. This aurochs bull was hit by a spear, but the wound healed and it survived. The hunter possibly did not.
Recent research has shown that the numbers of
researching the history of domestication, because
aurochs that were first domesticated were actually
it makes bones of domestic cattle and those of the
very small. It was a dangerous and difficult job
aurochs easily distinguished in the archaeological
and if some cows were finally tamed it was much
records.
easier to breed those cows than to constantly
Cattle were not used for one thing exclusively,
catch new ones from the wild. The most impor-
so they were not mainly bred for meat. Milk
tant selection was carried out on the bulls.
supply and working power were more important.
Aurochs bulls were substantially larger than the
Bulls were castrated, so that they could be handled
cows and had larger horns. They were a lot more
more easily and only a small selection of bulls was
difficult and dangerous to handle.
used for breeding.
Therefore, the first selection on cattle was done, not only on the amount of milk and meat they could provide, but simply on manageable size. The smaller the animal, the more easily it could be handled and controlled. This can be clearly seen from the bone material that has been found. Already from the very start of domestication, the cattle were smaller than the aurochs and they continued to decrease in size throughout
‘In short, wildlife is the very soul of rewilding and the aurochs is one of Europe’s Top Wildlife Stars.’
the millennia that followed. This has helped us in
Chapter 3 — Extinct, but still kicking!
63
Europe finally There is still some debate about the spread of
Could it be that aurochs on the Iberian and
domestic cattle into Europe, how it happened
Italian Peninsulas were domesticated inde-
and when. However, we do know that it happened
pendently from the ones in the Middle East?
rather fast. Archaeological finds show that the first
The general consensus is that they were not. The
domestic cattle began to appear in Southwestern
domestic cattle breeds from those peninsulas
Europe about 8,000 years ago. Remains of
seem to also have a Middle Eastern origin. Since
domestic cattle have been found in Western and
only a handful of individual animals in the Middle
Central Europe from only 1,000 years later. These
East were domesticated because of all the diffi-
animals were brought to the rest of Europe prob-
culties the process entailed, it seems more likely
ably partly through trade, but also by emigrating
that trading for domestic cattle was preferred over
Stone Age people searching for new areas to settle.
separately taming wild aurochs.
We don’t know if local people simply took over the handicraft of rearing and keeping domestic animals, or if these were brought here entirely by newcomers. However, we do know that at least part of it was because of newcomers moving into Europe. These followed migration paths originating in Turkey, up across the Balkans into the rest of Europe. The Danube river valley was also heavily used by Stone Age people as an emigration route from the Balkans and the Black Sea to Central and Western Europe.
64
The Aurochs — born to be wild
The whitish muzzle is an aurochs characteristic that can be seen on the Lascaux cave paintings, in the CĂ´a valley rock carvings and in the original cattle breeds as well.
Pure bred or mixed? The Limia breed has shown to be very resilient to rain and cold winters. This is one of the reasons the breed is used in the Tauros Programme.
When cattle arrived and started to thrive in Europe, and in the thousands of years that followed, barbed wire wasn’t invented yet and the barriers keeping domestic animals in were rather primitive. This means that any aurochs trying to reach domestic cattle could have done so rather easily. Rather extensive research into wild boar and domestic pigs in Europe has for example shown that every now and then domestic pigs were visited by wild boars. This means that throughout history a constant influx of wild genes has been mixed into the domestic pig gene pool. The same thing happened between domestic
‘Cattle meant wealth and capital, and not just symbolically, but even literally. The word capital comes from the Latin ‘caput’, which means head. Head of cattle.’
cattle and aurochs as well, with aurochs bulls visiting domestic cows, rather than the other way around.
Chapter 3 — Extinct, but still kicking!
65
History written down in haplotypes It is rather technical but the mixing of genes can
When researchers worked on reconstructing the
only be researched properly by studying what
complete mtDNA of domestic cattle, they also
are called haplotypes: specific series of genes on
found other maternal lineages. Four Italian cows
chromosomes. In that way the history of a species
for example carried a haplogroup R, which most
can be traced back through the male and female
likely originates from European aurochs.
line separately. Male offspring inherit exactly
It becomes clear that the history of domestic
the same Y-chromosomes from their fathers.
cattle didn’t move in a straight line. Aurochs and
For females this is the case with so-called mito-
domestic cattle did mix several times during
chondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is passed on from
history. That means that the European aurochs in
mother to daughter.
one way or another has left its genetic print in all
Y-chromosome research on the aurochs has not yet been done in an organised and large
66
of the European cattle breeds we see today. While the aurochs in the Middle East had a
enough scale, but large-scale research of mtDNA
haplotype T, the aurochs of Western, Central and
has been done which has produced some pretty
Northern Europe had a haplotype P. This difference
interesting conclusions. The first thing is that
is extremely important: certain aurochs bone mate-
aurochs mtDNA haplotype P, typical only for
rial from Spain and Italy contained a haplotype T.
European aurochs, has been found here and there
This means that aurochs north of the Alps and
in domestic cattle from different times and places
north of the Pyrenees entered Europe from Central
in Europe. Three out of 3,000 mtDNA sequences
Asia and Russia, instead of those areas being recolo-
from modern cattle yielded such a haplotype P.
nised by aurochs from Southern Europe.
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Storage for deep frozen straws with semen from a Pajuna bull (who actually died in 1992). To speed up the process (above) and have better control over the crossings, artificial insemination is also used. Due to veterinary regulations it's not always possible to import live bulls to the Netherlands to do their job. One of the leading bulls in the Tauros Programme (right), a crossing between Maremmana primitiva and Pajuna.
Chapter 3 — Extinct, but still kicking!
67
Onward and backwards Surprisingly, in all the millennia that followed after the first introduction of domestic cows and bulls into Europe, not a great deal changed in the way they were reared. They were kept in open fields, herded by herdsmen and brought into enclosures or even indoors for the night. Later, during the Roman period in Southern Europe and during the Middle Ages further north, cattle were put in separate pastures, surrounded by thorny bushes to keep the wild animals out and the cattle in. This was only possible because aurochs populations had virtually disappeared and could not jump over fences to mate with domestic cows anymore. Lions had been long gone and wolf populations were strongly decimated. So, after thousands of years, the Roman period and the Middle Ages meant a breakthrough in the way cattle and other domestic animals were kept.
Cattle have always mainly grazed the grassy, open lands, but at certain times of year also grazed and browsed the woods and forests, like here in Sierra de Gata in Spain. Cattle keep the under-storage of the woods open and grazed woods show a much higher biodiversity than non-grazed.
68
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Chapter 3 — Extinct, but still kicking!
69
70
The Aurochs — born to be wild
And the aurochs? Back-breeding the aurochs is a puzzle, the pieces of which can be found in all corners of Europe. Like here in the Danube Delta in Romania: an ancient breed of cattle that are living in the wild on their own.
As we have seen in the previous chapter, the aurochs steadily declined. Not only was the aurochs population at the start much more numerous throughout Europe than the wisent, but they were also in more direct competition with domestic cattle when it came to diet and vegetation use. Aurochs and domestic cattle simply got in each other’s way. In the beginning this did not cause major problems because Europe
‘The tamed aurochs became chief supplier of proteins and working power, without which mankind would never have gotten to where we are today.’
was big enough for both of them. However, after some time, 4,000–5,000 years ago, the situation changed. Cultures in Europe had settled and became more organised. Human populations
Some cattle breeds have retained a lot of
grew larger and so did the herds of cattle they
the original aurochs characteristics. This can be
reared. Hunting pressure on the aurochs mounted
explained by two factors: either the breeds have
as well and as in all cases where human interests
remained rather unaltered throughout the ages,
are in conflict with wildlife, the aurochs was the
because of geographical isolation and therefore
losing party.
have a more direct line with the aurochs, or
The aurochs retreated to areas less suitable for
because of the wilder way they have been living,
agriculture and cattle raising. Aurochs herds and
natural selection has bred them back to a more
populations got fragmented all over Europe and
original state. Therefore, they have retained a lot
when a population crash occurred, numbers could
of aurochs characteristics and they have reverted
not be topped up from other aurochs populations
back to an animal that looks and behaves more
nearby.
like an aurochs.
Today, the aurochs has obviously ceased to
The conclusion is that there is no sharp
exist as a wild animal species. That doesn’t mean
distinction between the Eurasian aurochs and
it has completely vanished from the earth. As we
some of the Taurine domestic cattle, and there
have seen, all cattle originate from Middle Eastern
never has been, because all cattle today are simply
aurochs, which are of the same origin as European
domestic aurochs in different shapes and forms.
aurochs. When domestic cattle were brought to
If we recognise that fact, then the conclusion is
Europe, European aurochs mated with domestic
inevitable:
cows and left their genetic imprint in virtually every cattle breed in Europe today and thus in a large part of the world’s cattle population.
Although some animals might be more equal than others, the aurochs never really died out. It just simply adapted and changed.
The insect-eating scorpion fly (Panorpa communis), Tyrol, Austria. The next spread shows an aurochs bull as depicted by artist Thomas Hammond, based on the well-preserved aurochs skeleton from Lund, Sweden.
Chapter 3 — Extinct, but still kicking!
71
The animal 72
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Chapter 4 — The animal
73
The animal The beauty of the beast For centuries the aurochs was veiled in shrouds of myth and legend. Most of us have heard of the aurochs at one time or another, but very few of us really know much more about it than that. In 2012, a major American cinema movie was released, titled ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ – where they even used Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs to represent the aurochs, equipped with four plastic horns each and digitally enlarged to become more monsterlike! A worthless film of course, but what was the aurochs really like? Was it really a forest animal? Where did it live, which habitats did it prefer? Was it dangerous? When did it disappear and why did it go extinct? The previous gap in the knowledge about the aurochs is now about to be filled in. A surge of interest in the species during the last few years has led to new research and previously unknown facts being revealed. We are now more able than ever to combine past and present knowledge and turn it into one cohesive story about this fascinating animal. What have we learned, and how did that happen? Let us take a close look at the aurochs. It was the largest and heaviest land mammal in Europe, next in line after the woolly mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros, both of which have also sadly gone extinct. The aurochs is now stepping out of from the shrouds of myth, but maybe more than ever remains a legend.
Chapter 4 — The animal
75
First modern attempts to learn After it had disappeared in 1627, the first time
Europe’s early wildlife, biologists of the time were
that people began to show interest in the aurochs
trying to get their heads around the history of
again was during the second half of the 1700s, part
wild cattle species, so-called bovine species, in
of the so-called period of ‘enlightenment’, when
Europe.
the notion of scientific research and evidence-
76
By the time that the Swedish biologist
based knowledge began to take shape. Encouraged
Carolus Linnaeus began to classify and divide
by the few available historical descriptions of
all species in certain families and genera and
The Aurochs — born to be wild
A rock carving of an aurochs, Côa valley, Portugal (previous page). Over 2,000 rock carvings were found there, 15,000 to 35,000 years old and with aurochs as one of the most common motifs.
The bull became a symbol of power and virility. To jump over the bull — as in this Minoan mosaic from Knossos in Crete — was an act of young bravery.
then identifying each of them with a Latin name
there had been two bovine species, the bison and
and surname so to speak, the living memories
the aurochs. The latter school also believed that
about the aurochs had faded into the mists of
there must have existed two species of aurochs, a
mythology. Two schools of thought emerged. One
larger and a smaller version, due to the differences
of them believed there had lived only one wild
in size of the very few skeletons that had been
bovine species in Europe, the European bison, also
found at that time.
known as the wisent. The other school argued that
Chapter 4 — The animal
77
Twist and turn The so-called romantic period in the first half of the 1800s didn’t help creating a clearer picture. Many of the historical sources about the aurochs were either not widely known or had even not yet been rediscovered. The now world-famous cave paintings, like those of the Altamira, Chauvet and Lascaux caves were yet undiscovered. All that the scientists of the time really knew was that the aurochs must have been a big beast, with large horns and, according to the few wellknown historical sources like the Roman emperor Caesar’s descriptions, a very dangerous animal. The aurochs increasingly became the material of legends. The second half of the 1800s saw renewed attempts to once again look at our natural heritage in a more scientific way. With the new ideas of Wallace and Darwin on evolution by natural selection spreading around, people began to get a glimpse into new realities; the history of earth was not just 6,000 years old. Other animals and creatures had walked the planet long before that, even long before mankind. Bones were unearthed that, for the first time, could be placed into their right contexts. Archaeology, the study of human activity in the past, emerged as a scientific field and the piles of bones that were found were now beginning to be properly identified and classified. Also, animal remains were more often and more scientifically studied and categorised per animal species. In 1878, for the first time, after studies of the Inspection reports from the former Forest of Jaktorów in Poland and studies of all the skeletal remains discovered by then, the existence of an animal called the aurochs, which had lived in Europe after the Ice Age, was finally determined and generally accepted. The earlier misunderstanding about a larger and a smaller species of aurochs turned out to be based on the remains of a smaller aurochs cow and a larger aurochs bull. The mistake was recognised and from then on the research intensified on one species, called the aurochs or the urus. Both are words of Germanic origin, stemming from the words auer or ur, an older word for the aurochs, and the word ochse, the ox. The ‘red cow’ from the Lascaux caves, found in 1940.
78
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Chapter 4 — The animal
79
And the truth shall set you free During the first half of the 1900s, things became
nation-building and it was claimed to be a myth-
clearer. Much more bone material and even some
ical ‘Aryan’ animal species, suitable for the Nazis’
complete aurochs skeletons were found. For the
European Empire ideology.
first time in three centuries, scientists could now really start to understand what the aurochs had
happened. A teenager in Lascaux, France stumbled
been. Indeed, it turned out that the aurochs had
upon a hidden cave and did one of the greatest
been a formidable animal with large horns, as
discoveries of all times. The Lascaux caves quickly
Caesar had described, but as always when science
became world-famous because they held paint-
takes over, the myths disappeared. Aurochs
ings on the cave walls of all types of animals
turned into a real wildlife species and basically
from times long gone, almost as if they had been
turned out not to be all that different from the
painted yesterday. In fresh, vivid colours were
cattle of the time. It was larger in every aspect, but
animals such as bison, wild horse, mammoth and
still resembled the cows and bulls in the barns of
of course aurochs, all of them estimated to have
any farmer in the neighbourhood.
been produced about 17,000 years ago. A unique
What also sped up the interest was the rise of
80
Then in 1940, something very important
glimpse into what wildlife that had lived in that
political nationalism during the 1920s and 1930s.
part of Europe, during the last Ice Age, before
It was during this time that the first attempts
mankind later wiped them all out. Later, more
were made in Germany to breed a type of cattle
caves were discovered mainly in Spain and France –
that should resemble the aurochs (see more in
the Chauvet caves being the most spectacular, with
chapter 6). Suddenly the aurochs became a part of
paintings estimated to be 32,000 years old.
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Most people have never thought of cattle as a functional, wild animal species. Will mounting a bull’s head like a hunting trophy help change that perception?
Bits and pieces come together Archaeology, archaeozoology, written historical
to study genetics in ancient bone material,
genetics, cattle breeding and cattle behaviour
have taken enormous leaps forward. Studies of
all helped to get a better understanding of the
so-called radioactive isotopes (N15) that have
aurochs in the decades following the Second
been carried out on bone material have yielded
World War.
information about what the animals must have
Many things were written about the aurochs,
Animal behaviour and the number of wild herbivores, together with soil and climate, lead to amazing landscapes like this ancient mosaic ‘forest’ in Letea, in the Danube Delta, Romania.
Since then, genetics as well as our ability
sources, cave paintings, knowledge about cattle
been eating, thereby providing insight into what
but the first coordinated attempt to bring all the
type of landscapes the aurochs roamed back then.
known information from various scientific disci-
Based on these isotope studies scientists have
plines together took place in the period of 1992
been able to verify several theories of ecologists
to 1995 by the Dutch specialist Cis van Vuure.
like Vera, showing that before man began keeping
He did extensive literature research and in that
it as domestic cattle, the aurochs was an animal
process discovered many lesser-known historical
of the open lands, living mainly on grass, thus
records dealing with the aurochs, most of which
proving that there must have been immense areas
dated from medieval Germany and Poland. After
of natural grasslands in Europe at the time.
years of research he presented his findings in
Studies of the behaviour of cattle and other
1995, and his work inspired other scientists to
bovine species are being used to understand
intensify their search for the aurochs. Follow-up
the aurochs as well. Results that were verified by
studies, like that of Frans Vera in 1998, also
cross-checking it with information found in medi-
showed the ecological context in which the
eval written historical sources, which contained
aurochs had prospered.
detailed descriptions of aurochs behaviour.
Chapter 4 — The animal
81
What did it look like? According to these more recent insights, the
remains so far discovered were in the southern
aurochs originated in India some 2 million years
part of Lake Ladoga in Russia, near St. Petersburg.
ago. During the Pleistocene epoch (2,5 million
After the Ice Age the aurochs was the largest
to 12,000 years ago) the species spread across
remaining herbivore in Europe, in most cases
other parts of Asia, also into northern Africa and
larger even than the European bison or wisent.
Europe. The earliest remains of the aurochs found
The size of the aurochs varied depending on
in Germany date from about 400,000 years ago,
the region. On average, aurochs from Northern
but it is estimated to have reached Europe long
Europe were larger than those from the South.
before that, probably around 700,000 years ago.
This is similar to many other animal species,
As mentioned earlier, three subspecies of
since a larger body mass retains more heat and
aurochs have been identified:
therefore animals that live in colder climates
• Indian aurochs (Bos primigenius namadicus);
tend to be larger than their relatives living in
• Eurasian aurochs (Bos primigenius
warmer zones.
primigenius);
In Denmark and Germany the shoulder height
• North African aurochs (Bos primigenius
of aurochs bulls varied between 155 cm and
africanus).
180 cm and those of cows varied between 135 cm and 155 cm, while bulls from the Iberian Peninsula
The Eurasian aurochs spread in good numbers to virtually all corners of Europe, except Ireland,
ranged from 140 cm to 170 cm. Aurochs also showed a strong so-called sexual
northern Scandinavia and what is now the boreal
dimorphism, which in this case means that bulls
taiga forest zone. The northernmost aurochs
were significantly larger than cows.
The distribution of Eurasian aurochs (red), Indian aurochs (orange) and North African aurochs (yellow).
82
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Aurochs were big. A bull (left) could reach 1.80 m at the shoulder, with horns of more than a meter long. Cows (right) were smaller, up to 1.60 m, and more reddishbrown in colour.
General build
Horns
The body shape of an aurochs was different from
Its horns were characterised by their size, curva-
many developed cattle breeds today. It had an
ture and orientation. From the skull the horns
athletic body shape and long legs. Eyewitness
grew outwards, then curved forward, at an angle
records from the time clearly describe it as a swift
of about 60 degrees in relation to the forehead
and very agile animal.
and then finally often inward toward each other.
The skull, carrying the large horns, was larger
They were light-coloured, with dark-coloured
and more elongated than in most cattle breeds
tips. The bull’s horns could on occasion reach
today and the head was big compared to the rest
up to 107 cm in length and measuring between
of the body. Especially the bulls showed a strongly
10 and 18 cm in diameter at their base. The cows
expressed neck and shoulder hump musculature
had horns that could probably reach up to 70 cm
to be able to carry the heavy head with its long
in length. The bull’s horns were larger, with the
and thick horns. Even in pregnant cows, the udder
curvature more strongly pronounced than the
was quite small and barely visible from the side.
cows.
Reconstruction of an aurochs bull’s head, using the skull from a museum specimen from Lund, Sweden.
Chapter 4 — The animal
83
Coat colour The coat colour of the aurochs can be recon-
of the aurochs’ natural behaviour. Apart from
artwork combined with written sources, which
written historical sources, a lot of information has
have been confirmed over the last ten years
come from studying wild living, so-called feral
through research finds related to the genetic DNA
cattle and other wild bovines. Aurochs formed
markers of cattle’s colours.
natural herds, just like any other bovine species.
In general, the calves were born with a chestnut
84
Science now also has a pretty clear picture
structed by using historical and contemporary
There were some herds with cows, calves and
colour. Within half a year, bull calves would
young bulls. The young bulls stayed in the group
change colour to a very deep brown or black, with
until they were mature and then driven away
a whitish-yellow so-called eel stripe or dorsal line
from the herd. Bulls formed separate bull-herds,
running down its back along the spine. Cow calves
while the older bulls probably wandered around
retained their reddish-brown colour, but black
on their own. As is often seen in nature, the size of
cows were occasionally seen as well. Both sexes
these herds was dependent on the terrain and its
had a distinct light-coloured, often white, muzzle.
vegetation. On steppes and grasslands, herds were
There is no evidence of more variation in coat
bigger, since a large group gives a clear advantage
colour than this, throughout its range. In 1984,
against predators, who also tend to live in larger
remains of an aurochs from the 1200s were found
groups in open landscapes. Since much of Europe
near Pultur, Poland, with some hairs still intact,
probably consisted of open or park-like land-
which gave further support for the known typical
scapes, this picture will have been quite common
aurochs colouration.
until human pressure became too high.
The Aurochs — born to be wild
For centuries scientists didn’t even know that aurochs and bison were two separate species. There are very few realistic drawings published of aurochs, since they had become very rare and localised already in the 1500s. This picture is the so-called ‘Augsburg aurochs’ from 1826.
Bulls fighting and cows making peace Bulls and cows confirmed their social status by
to the mating only when the strongest bull was
different means. Lead cows got their highest social
busy with the females of his choice. The calves
status by not being aggressive. Instead of relying
were born after winter had gone, when grass and
on strength, likeability seems to have been the
other vegetation began to grow again, so that
driving force of becoming a leader cow or not.
females have enough food to produce milk for the
With bulls, the situation was more straightforward and more aggressive, as pretty much every-
newborn. The gestation period of an aurochs cow was nine months.
where else in the animal kingdom. Bulls acquired their social status through impressive displays of power and by winning fights. The mating season took place during late summer and early autumn. Something that The dehesa in Spain is a mosaic savannah woodland dominated by stone oak and cork oak, with the acorns and the grass between the trees being used as the main food source for cattle and pig breeding.
varied somewhat across Europe. Bulls would approach the cow herds during that time in search of females ready to mate. During the mating season the bulls had severe fights and we know from the historical sources that sometimes bulls fought till death. The winner didn’t have all the cows to himself, since that would have taken too
‘The European aurochs has in one way or the other left its clear genetic print in all of the European cattle breeds we have today.’
much time and energy, but the strongest bulls had the first choice. Smaller bulls could contribute
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Part of the food chain During the Ice Age, aurochs in Europe were
but also the leopards and hyenas, the only major
populations were still strong in Eastern and
predators left were the wolf and the bear. The
South-Eastern Europe, at least until the Copper
standard defence of a cow herd when attacked by
Age some 3,500 years ago. The last European
predators was to form a circle around the calves
lions were killed during the first century AD, in
and young. A shield of horns that was able to keep
northern Greece and Macedonia/Bulgaria. This
most predators at bay.
means that until fairly recently, aurochs populations in Europe were predated upon by lions.
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With the disappearance of not just the lions,
hunted by lions. Also long after the Ice Age, lion
The Aurochs — born to be wild
There has been quite a deal of speculation about the level of aggressiveness of the aurochs.
In the Campanarios de Azaba reserve in Spain, a first herd of Sayaguesa cattle have been released, as part of the Tauros Programme. The Sayaguesa’s will be cross-bred with other breeds.
Generally, wild bovine species share their terri-
air. This doesn’t prove that they were aggressive,
tory with a great number of other animal species,
only that they were very capable of defending
without feeling the need to behave aggressively.
themselves. If the perceived threat disappeared,
Something that has also been documented in
for example when a person would lie down on
the written historical sources. It also seems that
the ground, it has been witnessed that aurochs
aurochs were not very bothered when humans
bulls would halt their attack and move on to other
approached. Only when hunted or provoked, the
things, more worthy of their attention.
aurochs bulls in particular could become very aggressive and send people flying through the
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Habitat and Ecology The prevailing theory until quite recently was that aurochs after the Ice Age must have mainly lived in closed canopy forests and forested riverine habitats or swamps. However, it turns out that reality was different, indeed quite the contrary to these beliefs. After careful studies it has now become clear that during much of the period after the Ice Age, large areas of Europe consisted of park-like landscapes with large open grassy areas with light-demanding plant and tree species. The aurochs skeletons provide important clues as well. Its skull is built with so-called hypsodont jaws, which are typical for grazers (which feed mainly on grasses) and not at all for browsers (which feeds mainly on branches, bark and shoots). Also the aurochs’ teeth are very typical for a grazer. It therefore must have had a food selection very similar to domestic cattle of today. Furthermore, a study of radioactive isotopes that was carried out in Denmark clearly shows what happened. Before the arrival of domestic cattle, the aurochs mainly fed on grasses. After the domestic cattle arrived, both cattle and aurochs showed isotope levels that were consistent with grasses and grassy areas. After this the balance changed in that favour of domestic cattle, while the later aurochs bones increasingly began to show isotope levels indicative of a food selection from forests and marshes. In other words, domestic cattle and aurochs had the same food preference, but the aurochs was pushed into more inhospitable lands by humans and their domestic livestock. During autumn they would complement their diet with acorns to fatten up for the coming winter, just like wild living domestic cattle populations do today. During winter, they found additional forage by eating bushes and bark, twigs and branches of trees. Something that can also still be seen in primitive wild living cattle today. However, this does not change the overall picture: the aurochs was not a forest species, it was a grass-eating plains animal that was finally forced to try to survive in the forest. This is what the Rhodope mountains in Bulgaria and several other European wildlife areas could look like in a not too distant future. An abundance of species and numbers, from ibex to aurochs, wild horse and wisent. The bull (next spread) has always been a powerful symbol.
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The bull story
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
Chapter 5 — The bull story
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The bull story In the mist of history it is easy to get lost The bull and the cow are very close to the human heart and soul. We go way back together. Cattle are deeply immersed into our identity, our history and our economy. Deeper than we might at first realise: culture, cuisine, institutions, religions, advertising, fashion, design and art are all deeply influenced by our relation to cattle over the past 10,000 years. We have been through a lot together. Take a look around: there is bullfighting in Spain and bull riding in rodeos, the stock exchange talks about a ‘bull market’, a bad guy is a bully, someone stubborn is being bullish, there were bull cults in all the Mediterranean countries, there is Red Bull energy drink, Greek euro coins have a bull on them and there is statue of a girl riding a bull right in front of the European Council office in Brussels. There are tens of thousands’ year-old rock carvings and cave paintings, lots of commercial brands using the bull symbol, Taurus is an astrological sign in the Zodiac and there are 4,000 year old Cretan Minoan mosaics showing young men jumping over a bull. There is, of course, the exquisite Minoan bull’s head. Not to forget the thousands of fibreglass cows in life size, colourfully decorated by artists all across the world. Milk has become an everyday asset that few could imagine a life without. Then there is beef for the barbeque, leather for our shoes and manure for the farms. Last but not least, our multi-millennia relation to cattle has left very concrete marks on open landscapes worldwide – they have been kept open.
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A love affair and an abduction Very fittingly, Europe’s official history begins with a Greek myth about a bull. Where Zeus, their main god at the time, was said to have fallen in love with the beautiful princess Europa on the Phoenician shores, in present-day Lebanon. She was the daughter of the sea goddess Tethys and the ocean god Oceanus. As the story goes, Zeus thought of a way to seduce her and take her back home to his Island of Crete. He disguised himself as a majestic bull grazing in the flowering fields and while trying to get near her, managed to get Europa to stroke him and even climb onto his back. Once he had her firmly in place, Zeus quickly ran to the beach, jumped into the sea and swam the nearly 900 kilometres back to Crete. Quite a performance for a marginal swimmer like a bull… In Crete, she became the mother of King Minos, ruler of Europe’s first higher civilisation. This was the symbolic start of calling our continent Europe and, in one image, it shows how the outstandingly
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
The bull Zeus and the Princess Europa adorn the entrance to the European Council in Brussels (top). The Cretan coin with the same motif is 2,330 years old. The previous page: the Minoan Bull’s head rhyton from Knossos, Crete.
important cattle herding culture came to this continent from the Middle East, bringing wealth, culture and prosperity. History has later proven this is exactly what happened. It’s not that surprising that the Minoan kingdom had the bull at the very centre of its cult. It was also the start of Europe’s long lasting love affair with the bull and the cow. Ever since that time, the image of Princess Europa on top of a bull has proven to be a strong symbol. Over the following millennia, innumerable artists have depicted this scene in paintings and sculptures, with Rembrandt and Titian among the most famous. In these works of art the image of the bull itself varies through history from a cuddly white animal with horns made of diamonds, to a more aurochs look-a-like with a dark-brown coloured coat, immense horns and a A modern day girl trying out some bull-riding on a Rodeo Bull for hire machine, UK (top). The bull and girl theme also features on the Greek two-euro coin.
dorsal eel stripe. Even up to this day, this theme is still used as a symbol for Europe, in everything from official heraldics to political satire.
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The ‘Sistine Chapel of Prehistory’ Only top-level researchers are allowed into the world-famous caves of Chauvet, Lascaux and Altamira these days to prevent damage to the vulnerable paintings. However, you can go to the cinema and allow the 3D world of the prehistoric artists of Chauvet to blow your socks off, in a film by Rainer Herzog from 2012. At Lascaux – described as ‘the Sistine Chapel of Prehistory’ – there is a replica cave that one can enter, and at Altamira and Chauvet as well. Otherwise, even the virtual trip on the websites of these ancient art galleries gives a strong enough impression of their quality, species and historical importance. The Chauvet cave paintings give us a good idea of the very diverse fauna of the time, 32,000– 30,000 years ago. At least 14 large species were depicted black on white, in the over 400 paintings: aurochs, bison, giant deer, ibex, red deer, woolly rhinoceros, lion, reindeer, muskox, panther, wild horse, woolly mammoth, hyena and cave bear. The masterpiece might be the panel of the lions, leopards and rhinos, depicting a pride of lions on the hunt, just as if one is watching a TV documentary in HD. The aurochs is one of the more commonly represented species, showing that they were very important to our ancient relatives of that time. The Lascaux cave paintings were made between 15,000 and 20,000 years later. By then our ancestors had learned how to master the use of colour. Art, even today, doesn’t get much better than this. In 1940, Pablo Picasso visited the recently discovered caves, and after his visit said: ‘We have discovered nothing new’, referring to modern art. We don’t yet know the meaning of the cave art of Chauvet, Lascaux, Altamira and many other smaller caves. Archaeologists like Jean Clottes, one of the leading experts on prehistoric cave paintings, suspect a ritualistic meaning, where bulls and cows play an important role as gods and man-gods, connected to life, death and afterlife. The paintings of Chauvet and Lascaux might have been at the dawn of religion in Europe. Other archaeologists believe that these caves were hunting lodges with collections of clan symbols, maybe used for rituals before the hunt. Or, maybe it had all those functions? One thing is clear, however: the aurochs was a very important animal for our ancestors.
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
The famous aurochs bull painting from the Lascaux caves in Dordogne, France.
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Gugallana, Apis and other bull gods Around 10,000 years ago the relation between
‘The impending death of the Apis bull sent the
man and the wild fauna around him changed
priests to scour the realm for a successor. When a
drastically, with the beginning of agriculture
new bull was located, its owner was handsomely
and domestication. The first animal to be domes-
rewarded and the priests immediately placed the
ticated was the wolf (dog), soon to be followed
animal in seclusion. For forty days and nights the
by mouflon (sheep), ibex (goat) and the aurochs
bull was kept hidden away. Naked women were
(cattle). The ‘Neolithic revolution’ had started.
paraded in front of the animal to incite the god
Instead of uncertain and dangerous hunting
and secure the fertility of both the women and
events, a sure and steady supply of protein was
land of Egypt. At the end of the period of seclu-
now at people’s fingertips. Cattle were, together
sion the bull was transported to the holy city of
with the first farmed cereals, the necessary
Memphis in a sacred silver barge inside a golden
preconditions for humankind to grow dramat-
cabin. Upon arrival, the Apis bull was enthroned
ically in numbers. No wonder that cattle was
in the great temple of Ptah, where he occupied a
awarded a godly status.
suite of special rooms, equipped with elaborate
Bull and cow were seen as manifestations of
sleeping quarters. The Apis bull was served special
the male and female, shadow and light, energy
foods and given holy water from the sacred wells
and matter, virility and fertility. These aspects are
of Egypt. Cows were kept in adjoining rooms to
important parts of the worshipping of cattle and
serve as concubines.’ (Rifkin, Beyond Beef, 1992.)
can be found in many early religions. From the Sumerian ‘Bull of Heaven’ Gugallana in the Middle East, the cattle culture moved into
Bull gods were worshipped also in Palestine, on Cyprus, in Anatolia, in the Indus valley, Crete, Greece, among the Celts and in the Roman Empire.
Egypt. The Egyptians had several bull-gods, the most important ones being Apis and Mnevis. As a symbol of strength and fertility, Apis was held to be a manifestation of the pharaoh, the god-king. Sacred bulls were mummified and buried in special tombs. In Saqqara, tombs containing several dozens of animals have been excavated, covering a period of a thousand years.
A 2,600 year old Egyptian bronze statue of the bull god Apis, from the British museum.
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
Already the old Greeks… A bull leaping form called ‘Course Landaise’, here in Gascony in France. The bulls are not killed and there is no bloodshed involved.
In ancient Greek society cattle were by far the
The role of the gods changed as well. Gods
most important animals. The ancient Greek heroes
were no longer wild animals but changed to half
were said to have cattle blood in their veins. In
man-half beast. The Greek gods could take the
Greek mythology cattle play a dominant role. The
form of an animal, in many cases a bull or a cow.
step from hunter to herdsman meant more than
In Crete existed a full-blown bull cult. Bulls
just a shift towards more easily available protein.
were everywhere. The palaces of the Cretan kings
The relation between hunter and prey is different
were decorated with bull figures. Here, elements of
from that between the herdsman/farmer and his
the present-day Greek steppe cattle breeds as well
cattle. In ancient times the hunter and his large
as aurochs characteristics can be recognised: a
prey were equal in a certain way, since both ran
black animal with a white nozzle and large horns.
the risk of getting killed during the hunt. But it’s
The Cretans invented the art of ‘bull-leaping’, a
another thing to raise and nurture a dependent
demonstration of ritual skills and courage, that
animal and then at the end kill and eat it. Along
still has a direct link to our times: in Les Landes
with the change from hunter to herdsman, a series
in Southern France the ‘Course Landaise’ is the
of cultural and religious practices developed, such
modern high adrenaline equivalent of the Minoan
as sacrifice. The ritual of sacrifice made the killing
bull-leaping, visible for the rest of us via Youtube,
and eating of domestic animals morally accept-
demonstrating the skills a Minoan performer
able. Rituals that did not develop among hunt-
would have needed: a combination of acrobatics,
er-gatherers, such as for example the Australian
courage – and running speed if the jump didn’t
Aboriginals: there was never a need for it.
work out according to plan.
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A calf gives Italy its name Among the ancient Greek, possession of cows and bulls meant prosperity and power. Ownership rights to large amounts of cattle were restricted to the holy sanctuaries, places like Delphi or Knossos. These sanctuaries held a monopoly on cattle raising. The areas around the sanctuaries were ‘holy grounds’ where no other activities apart from cattle grazing were allowed. The herds were guarded by large numbers of cowboys to be able to round up the cattle for special events. Around Delphi and other holy places the cattle could roam around freely until it was time for sacrifice. The animals were then driven to the sanctuaries, slaughtered and eaten during great celebrations, often encompassing several days. In a way, the sanctuaries were forerunners of our present-day slaughterhouses, and in practice, the sacred lands surrounding the holy sites were the first nature reserves. The Greek influence went far beyond present-day Greece. In the epic stories about heroes like Odysseus or Heracles and their travels all across the Greek world of the time (along both sides of the Mediterranean from Gibraltar to Greece, and all around the coasts of the Black Sea), cattle played an important role. For example, among the twelve famous ‘Labours of Heracles’, three of which had to do with cattle: the cleaning of Augias stables, liberating Crete from the Cretan Bull and bringing Geryones’ crimson-coloured cattle herd from Tartessos, in present-day Andalucia, Spain (he was probably sent out to get Pajuna cattle). The story about getting the herd from Geryones is a classic cattle-raiding story. On his way back, one of Heracles’ calves was said to have escaped, swimming all the way to Sicily. In the Roman version of the story, after recapturing the lost calf, he renamed the country were this happened Vitulia, later Italy (the Latin name for a calf was and is ‘vitulus’). So, even names of entire countries can trace their origin to the cattle culture.
Cattle were one of the economic cornerstones of the Greek city-states, and this is mirrored in numerous pieces of artwork. Here, a 3,200 year-old rare ivory gaming box from Enkomi, Cyprus, with two large bulls carved on it.
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Bullfighting develops In Spain two different cattle cultures mixed: that
noblemen to do it, it instead became popular
of the earlier Greek traders/raiders and that of
among commoners. Around 1724, bullfighting
the Celtic nomads, who invaded NW Spain about
changed to its current form: matadors or toreros
2,400 years ago. The Celtic warrior bull cult,
on foot, back to the original Roman ways. Since
possibly with ancient roots from the Kurgans, a
then the bullfighting or ‘Corrida de Toros’ hasn’t
nomadic cattle herding people from the steppes of
changed much.
Southern Russia and the Ukraine 5,000 years ago,
With growing protests from animal-welfare
merged with the earlier Spanish influences and
groups the bullfights have now become less popular,
the Roman bull cult, creating the unique Iberian
especially among the young. In 2012, bullfighting
cattle culture. All these influences culminated in
was even banned by the province of Catalunya.
the Spanish arenas during the Middle Ages.
The Spanish parliament, however, is preparing a
The first recorded bullfight may be described
national law to reverse this provincial ban. What
in the Sumerian ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ 3,000 years
the future of bullfighting in Spain will look like
ago, where the heroes fight and kill the Bull of
is uncertain. Without visiting one, Hemingway’s
Heaven, using methods that seem very much the
‘Death in the Afternoon’ is probably the closest one
same as in those of today’s bullfights. Bullfights
can get to the atmosphere of a real corrida.
were already popular spectacles in ancient Rome,
In 2010, about 1,700 bullfights were registered in Spain. Sometimes the matador gets gored, like David Mora here in 2011. He survived. Toro Bravo (next spread) are quite aurochs-like, but bred over centuries for extreme aggressiveness and therefore not suitable for the Tauros Programme.
Another aspect of the Spanish cattle culture
where gladiators had to fight animals as a prelude
is the ‘Transhumancia’, ancient cattle trekking
to the man-to-man fights. According to official
routes crisscrossing the countryside where
statistics from the time, thousands of aurochs
livestock were herded from the higher summer
met their death in the arenas and this was actu-
grounds to the lower winter grounds and back.
ally one of the reasons the aurochs disappeared
These seasonal movements of man and cattle
from much of the Roman-controlled world. The
probably originated from the natural migration
first recorded bullfight in Spain was organised in
patterns of herds of aurochs from their summer
711, the same year the Arabian Moors conquered
to their winter grazing grounds. In several places
Spain. The horse-riding Moors then probably
the yearly roundups of cattle from the mountains
changed the choreography of bullfights from
to the villages are still regional festivities, but it
footmen to horsemen. At the time, bullfighting
is a tradition that is disappearing with the land
was an art form for the aristocracy, and was
abandonment and the fact that people are moving
done on horseback. After King Felipe V forbade
to towns and cities.
The Sumerian heroking Gilgamesh slaying the heavenly bull (left) 4,600 years ago. A Roman terracotta plaque from 100 AD (right) shows the hero Heracles capturing the Cretan bull.
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105
From vaqueros to cowboys Very shortly after Columbus ‘discovered’ America,
characteristics – were seen as ideal for the rough
the first cattle was exported to the Spanish
prairielands of México, New Mexico and Texas.
colonies in Florida, México, Texas and California,
They had a nose for finding water long distances
where the original Iberian/Arabian ‘Vaquero’
away and could survive seasonally on leaves and
cattle herding culture developed further. Later,
branches, characteristics they inherited from
the cattle herding culture spread north to the
their aurochs ancestors.
American Great Plains, which at the time were grazed by millions of American bison and
a great opportunity to produce beef. Around 1700,
inhabited by several native peoples who lived off
a Spanish captain in Texas – Alonso de León –
hunting these and other animals. The incredibly
decided to leave a bull and a cow at every creek he
rich wildlife of the Americas before Columbus has
passed. By the year 1780, these bulls and cows had
been well described in numerous studies. There is
increased to a herd of more than 100,000 cattle
no reason to believe the situation in Europe before
that were freely roaming the Texas prairies. In the
modern man’s arrival had been very different.
meantime, aurochs had gone extinct in Europe,
The Spanish were in the lead in the search
106
The North American plains were soon seen as
but thanks to Alonso de León, wild herds of
for new cattle raising opportunities because of
self-sufficient cattle were abundant again, even if
overgrazing and desertification of the Spanish
it wasn’t in their natural habitat. So the idea of the
pasturelands. So the Spanish longhorn breeds
Tauros Programme to release self-sufficient cattle
conquered the southern parts of America.
into rewilded areas of Europe may be not so brand
These hardy breeds – still with a lot of aurochs
new after all.
The Aurochs — born to be wild
A cowboy from Pantanal, Brazil, roping a steer. Here the cattlehands are called ‘Peãoes’. The famous North American cowboy culture developed from that of the Spanish and Portugues vaqueros/ vaqueiros.
Bye bye bison In North America, the bison or buffalo were
(1,360 kilos) and became a national symbol. It
actively exterminated during the 1800s from
was carried around the countryside in a special
almost their entire range, and so were the native
carriage for demonstration purposes (millennia
peoples who lived from the bison, in order to
after the Egyptian bull-god Apis was paraded in
make room for beef cattle. William Frederick Cody,
his silver and gold carriage). The breeding of cattle
better known as ‘Buffalo Bill’, killed 4,280 bison in
and other animals became a fashionable hobby of
just a year and a half.
the English noblemen.
By the second half of the 19th century the
In 2009, the US alone counted 950,000 ‘beef
western wilderness was cleared of buffalo and had
farms’ with a total of 93,7 million animals. To
been transformed into pastureland. The industri-
feed these animals they are often concentrated
alisation of the cattle industry had begun.
in ‘feed lots’ where they are raised on grain and
The ideal of the English aristocracy was a
pretty much anything they will eat (apart from
marbled and fatty steak, something that they
grass). The largest feed lots contain more than
thought could not be left to farmers. So, around
100,000 animals. To help them grow as fast as
1800 the British aristocracy started interfering
possible, medicines and hormones are admin-
with the actual breeding to raise the optimal
istered on a regular base, sometimes even from
animal. It was the beginning of controlled cattle
airplanes.
breeding at a large scale. One of the more extreme
Cattle have gone a long way from the caves of
results was the Durham Ox, the king of bulls
Chauvet and Lascaux or the luxury treatment of
at the time. The animal weighed 3,000 pounds
Apis, the Egyptian bull god.
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
Bull culture worldwide Cattle today live pretty much everywhere in the world. Many regions have developed their own breeds. The most recent count is 800 different cattle breeds, many of which are in danger of disappearing. Every cattle-breed more or less has its own cultural, artistic or spiritual ceremonies, events and festivities. It’s impossible to come even close to giving a representative overview, so the choice was made to highlight a couple of very special cattle related phenomena.
Bullock cart races, India These are a common scene in some of the rural areas in India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. They were usually held after the harvest of the crops. The sport is not without danger for the jockeys or spectators. Usually, the oxen don’t stop at the end of the race and the cart will be beyond repair. This is not surprising since the oxen are given whisky or other alcoholic drinks before the start to give them a boost. The animal welfare discussion has reached India as well and the bull races in India were cancelled because of a ban imposed by the Animal Welfare Board of India in July 2011. Under restrictions – such as no more whipping, no more intoxication and a veterinarian control – the cart races have been permitted again. They are once again part of the ‘rural Olympics’, a yearly Indian event.
‘Maybe the aurochs never really died out after all, but just simply adapted and changed?’
In Sumatra, Indonesia, the Pacu Jawi, or bull racing, has become a popular event. Lots of action, the main purpose for the owners of the animals is to exhibit the strength of their bulls to potential buyers, in order to get a higher price for them.
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Remains of ancient cattle-cultures Fiesta de San Fermín, Pamplona, Spain
Rodeo, North America
A yearly festival with mediaeval roots. As cattle
The rodeo or round up was originally an integral
merchants entered into town with their animals,
part of cattle ranching in the USA in the areas of
festivities were held. Later it was combined with
Spanish influence. It was a mixture of cattle wran-
the worshipping of San Fermín, a Catholic saint
gling and bullfighting. Rodeo evolved when the
from the 3rd century. The festivities are held
English-speaking cowboys learned the skills, attire,
during a week in July. Each day a number of bulls
vocabulary, and sports of the vaqueros. Ranch-
is released into the streets of Pamplona and
versus-ranch contests gradually sprang up with
chased to the bullfighting ring. Young Basques
activities such as bronco riding, bull riding, and
and more or less drunk tourists run as close as
roping contests appeared at racetracks, fairgrounds
they can in front of the bulls and many people
and festivals of all kinds. The first major rodeo
are hurt each year and every once in a few years
and the first Wild West show were held in 1882 by
even killed. Hemingway described the fiesta de
Buffalo Bill. Rodeo meanwhile has grown to be a
San Fermín in his novel ‘The Sun Also Rises’.
sport business with professional contests in all the
Over the last few years quite massive protests
US states, Canada and Australia. Now even mechan-
against bullfighting have been held in Pamplona
ical rodeo bulls have become part of the machinery
as well.
in fitness-centres and shopping centres.
In this Catalunyan spectacle called Toro embolado (below) a bull is released into the streets with a lit torch attached to each of its horns. Young men can then show their courage by running in front of the bull. The bull is not killed.
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
Bull-riding at a rodeo in the little Canadian prairie town of Fort Qu´Appelle, in the middle of the Saskatchewan cattle country.
‘Les Combats de Reines’: The Moo Fighters, Switzerland In the Swiss canton Valais each year, before the herds of the local breed ‘des Heren’ (in German: Eringer) are released onto the Alpine pastures, cow-to-cow battles are held, in a tradition from the 1600s. These ‘Combats de Reines’ take place to determine the dominance between the cows before being released on the high alpine pastures. In this way farmers prevent dominance-problems and possible loss of animals high in the mountains. The old tradition has grown into a serious regional event with preliminary rounds and a final with more than 50,000 spectators in the town of Martigny. The winning cow is awarded with the most beautiful (and heaviest) cowbell available.
Les Combats de Reines, or ‘Queen’s fights’, in the Swiss canton of Valais, celebrated by a commemorative coin. The winning cow is called La Reine des Reines, the ‘Queen of Queens’ and increases immensely in value.
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Cow culture worldwide In the Netherlands a relatively new phenomenon
In many European countries religious ceremo-
has developed during recent years: cow hugging
nies are held with cattle at its centre. Especially in
as a remedy against stress. Quite peaceful and
mountainous areas when at the end of the grazing
gentle compared with all the other examples.
season the animals are returning to the villages.
Workshops in cow hugging are given including
A special case is the procession in Malaga, Spain.
coaching activities.
Every autumn, during the ‘Rosario de las Glorias’ a holy shrine is paraded through the town. The shrine is drawn by a pair of Pajuna cows, dressed with silver plates. A remote echo from the silver and gold barge in which the Egyptian cow god Apis was transported in processions? Even more spectacular is the Romería de El Rocío, where during Pentecost almost a million people gather from all over Andalucia, many of them on their pilgrimage to the Virgen del Rocío by foot or horseback, with their gear in chuckwagons drawn by Pajuna oxen or cows.
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
A traditional September cow parade in Achensee, Tyrol, Austria. Across the world, thousands of cow sculptures (left), often in life size, have been decorated by different artists, in an initiative called the ‘Cow Parade’. This one is by Cary Smith.
Bull branding El Toro has become Spain’s national symbol. The bull symbol is also used by the FC Torino football club, the USF Bulls American football club and the Lamborghini sports car makers.
One of the first ways to express ownership was
And now we have come all the way around,
the branding of cattle, during which a red-hot
since the iconic and heraldic values of the bull
branding iron was used to burn the owners’ brand
and the cow are now being used for the ‘branding’
forever into the skin of the animal. This is still
of pretty much anything, from cities, countries,
done today, thousands of years later. However,
corporations, sports teams, beer, whisky and so
these days, branding has turned into a marketing
on. From Kwazulu Natal to Novosibirsk, in every
concept word, meaning much more than branding
country bulls can be found on flags, weapons or
cattle. Taking care of your brand and its status and
other forms of heraldry. Sometimes even specifi-
recognition is one of the most important aspects
cally aurochs are used, like in the national flag of
of any commercial activity today. Bagillions of
Moldova. After all, it’s the most important animal
euros a year are spent on it.
in the history of mankind.
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Other organisations that have bulls or cows in their logos and campaigns include clothing firms (Lois Jeans), drinks (Red Bull, Osborne, Jupiler, Black Bull whisky), sporting clubs (Chicago Bulls), awards (Gouden Kalf), food (Milka, La Vache Qui Rit)‌ The list is endless, showing that the bull and the cow are very closely connected to our identity and emotions. The next spread shows one of the bulls in the Tauros Programme.
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The Aurochs 2.0 Born to be Wild The complete DNA of the aurochs is quickly becoming unravelled, and so is that of all its nearest domestic relatives. They have shown to be very closely related. This means that cattle breeding techniques, used over millennia, could be used also for back breeding, using DNA analysis as a yardstick to measure the progress. Some scientists believe that technically, even modern cloning could be used, if that would be seen as the best way and considered ethical enough. What was seen to be impossible yesterday might very well be possible tomorrow. Or maybe even today? However, being possible, does that mean that we have to do it? What has been done is done, right? Doesn’t extinct mean forever? Wouldn’t it be trying to act in God’s place? Jurassic Park? Or, on the contrary, might we have a moral obligation to actually try to fix what man has destroyed, if we could? Especially so if it was relatively easy, if it was badly needed in the ecosystem and if it really only was the wild ancestor that went extinct, while all of its descendants are very much alive? In 2008, the Taurus Foundation took the bold decision to give it a serious try, through back breeding. This has since then grown into a joint effort together with Rewilding Europe and ARK Nature. The end result will look like an aurochs, live like an aurochs, behave, eat, mate, defecate and eventually die like an aurochs. In nature, it will in every practical sense be able to shoulder the aurochs’ fallen mantle. For the time being, this animal will be called the Tauros, the Greek word for the bull.
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Old habits die hard Throughout millennia, people have selected the
Although the original aurochs is extinct, the good
individual cattle that best suited their needs,
news is that much or maybe even all of the genetic
‘improving’ the animals through selective
material from the evolution that once created
breeding, a process that has led to the hundreds
it is still there. The impact from 10,000 years
of cattle breeds we know of today. Every one of
of domestication has of course been heavy, but
those breeds is more or less related to the aurochs.
luckily the aurochs genes and also the behaviour
Some more and some less, in the same way that
patterns in these so-called ‘original’ cattle breeds
all dog breeds from Chihuahuas to Great Danes
seem to have survived, right up to this day.
Most of the genetic diversity of the aurochs is preserved in the remaining original cattle breeds (above). The previous page shows a face portrait of a cow of the Maremmana primitiva breed.
are related to and stemming from the amazing genetic diversity within the wolf. Luckily, in some corners of Europe, certain cattle breeds changed very little over time. Especially so in a few geographically isolated patches in Italy, Spain and the Balkans, where cattle breeds have survived since very early times, living a pretty wild and hard life, seemingly without very heavy interference by man. Some of these original breeds live where there are wolves around and still know how to defend themselves.
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‘If we have the knowledge, the habitats and an important ecological role to fulfil, then we also have the obligation to undo the wrong man has done: the extinction of a wild species.’
Is it really possible to ‘bring it back’? The original design of the aurochs was no coin-
the time being, be called the ‘Tauros’. At the same
cidence, but the result of at least 700,000 hard-
time, this means saving important ‘wild’ genes in
earned years of evolution. It became a very
wild populations with evolution working as the
adaptable species, very suitable for a number of
sole further selection. If this is ‘bringing back’ the
habitats, a key factor in the ecosystems, and an
aurochs or not, is really more of a language ques-
animal upon which many, many hundreds of
tion. The Tauros Programme intends to do this all
other species are dependent still today.
via so-called back breeding, using traditional and
The experts from the Tauros Programme are very confident that it is completely possible to develop free-living populations of a wild kind of cattle that in every practical sense very
modern cattle breeding methods together, but breeding in the other direction, so to say. For a number of good reasons there is no ‘cloning’ involved or planned.
closely resembles the aurochs. Animals that are completely self-sufficient and that could fill the important and vacant ecological niche of the aurochs in Europe’s more natural habitats. That is what the Tauros Programme is striving for, working to come as close as ever possible to the original aurochs: the looks (phenotype) as well as its genes (genotype) and its behaviour. Born to be wild, using the aurochs as a reference and a model for the new animal. That animal will, for
This young first cross-breed generation bull from the Tauros Programme already shows several of the typical aurochs features: black coat colour, whitish muzzle, powerful shoulder hump and a yellowish so-called eel stripe along the spine.
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Why do such a thing at all? That is, of course, the obvious question. What is the use of breeding back an animal that as
in large numbers since they are keystone players
closely as possible resembles the aurochs? And
in the European landscapes (see Chapter 1). They
perhaps even more fundamentally, have we got
are needed to do the job that they are really good
the right to do it? Should our focus with regard
at: eating, trampling and relieving themselves.
to saving and rewilding nature not rather be
And through this behaviour helping to preserve
directed towards protecting what is still left,
the rich biodiversity of Europe’s ancient open
instead of trying to create something new or
and half-open original landscapes. However, wild
re-create something old?
cattle that are supposed to live in rewilded land-
First of all, the one doesn’t necessarily exclude
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Secondly, wild cattle are urgently needed and
scapes with large predators around, need to be
the other. Protection is often strongly supported
large, swift, agile, have the right colouration (for
through the bringing back of missing species.
camouflage purposes) and a decent set of horns to
The Aurochs — born to be wild
If we want wild cattle to again fulfill its crucially important role in Europe’s nature, then they need to be as close to the original aurochs as possible. After all, it spent over 700,000 years developing for these kinds of ecosystems.
defend themselves with. They simply need to be
of Tauros out there, their genes will live on. There
‘fit for purpose’. In other words, they need to be as
will probably be moments also in the near future
aurochs-like as possible.
– just like with the potato growers who today are
However, there are also further answers to the why-question. At a global scale, we are witnessing an ever-increasing loss of biodiversity and an even faster loss of original cattle-breeds. Large herds of wild
searching through the Andes mountains for wild potato genes – that cattle breeders will need wild genes again. A living gene pool exposed to natural selection would be a good response to that need. Then there are additional reasons as well:
cattle, exposed to all the natural and evolutionary
practical nature-management reasons, cultural
processes, could also serve mankind as a way
reasons, ethical reasons, tourism-marketing
to save these genes for the future. The breeds
reasons, business-development reasons and
themselves might disappear, but with wild herds
esthetic reasons.
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Will it not be a very dangerous animal? Aurochs were described by Julius Caesar in his ‘Gallic Wars’ as being ferocious and very dangerous animals. However, the Emperor himself probably only ever saw the aurochs in the arenas, fighting with gladiators. And yes, when provoked or threatened, aurochs – just like every other large-sized wild or domestic animal – could definitely become dangerous. Bulls used in Roman gladiator games would certainly and rightly so have felt pretty threatened… Luckily, there are other, far more credible stories about the true wild behaviour of aurochs. The Polish naturalist Schneeberger witnessed and described one of the last living herds of aurochs in the 1500s: ‘An aurochs is not afraid of a man and will not flee when someone comes near, he hardly retreats, when someone slowly comes towards him. And if someone tries to scream or throw something, this does not scare the animal in the least. He will remain firm in its place as if he were laughing at the man to his attempt. When the animal stands on the road, one should go around it, even when sitting on a car, because he will not go off the road. When they are challenged, they are temperate, but if he who has challenged him will stretch out on the ground, nothing bad will happen because they save those who lie stretched, like lions, with a strange gentleness. If a person will not stop challenging however, they will attack him with the horns and throw him thus in height.’ The Tauros will also be bred to function in our modern times. That means living in wild areas, but together with frequent visitors. By the early selection of breeds and individual animals, the Tauros team will try to avoid the risk of unnaturally aggressive behaviour. Therefore, breeds like the Lidia or Toro Bravo/Fighting cattle, although genetically close to the aurochs, but that have been bred for centuries on aggressive behaviour, will not be used. Any individuals showing aggressive behaviour towards people will be de-selected early on. In the future, it will probably be a task for the management of rewilded areas to, if needed, take out eventual dangerous individuals. Something that is already a normal procedure in many national parks around the world. Born to be rewilded. A Maronesa cow released in the Faia Brava reserve in Portugal.
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How could it be done? Mainly three possible techniques could be used, each with its pros and cons.
1. Natural selection alone, without a ‘kick-start’ It took evolution many hundreds of thousands of years to develop the aurochs. If herds of cattle were just ‘rewilded’ and then left alone to let the fittest animals survive it would probably mean that some of the unnatural traits (domestic colour patterns, all kinds of horn types, large udders) will take ages to lose, since there’s no severe selection against it. That is a loss of time nature can’t quite afford, since large herds are needed now and in the A Limia cow from Galícia in Spain, used in the Tauros Programme.
near future. By itself this method will not lead to an animal that comes much closer to the original aurochs. It will also take millennia. Evolution does not take the same road twice and the selective pressure has now changed, since some of the largest predators once around, are since long extinct.
2. Natural selection with a ‘kick-start’ This technique seems the most promising. Breeding is what farmers have been doing for thousands of years to improve their domestic cattle. The back breeding process will just be in the opposite direction: back towards the source. In this method one starts with the most suitable ancient breeds and within these breeds select the individuals with the wanted traits and let them A small udder is necessary for a life among predators in shrubby landscapes.
interbreed, or cross them artificially. The new individuals that have the best results are then selected for further breeding. With this method the outcome is much more predictable and considerably quicker. The genetic variation within the best breeds is preserved and used to develop genetically diverse populations. In the end – after several rounds of controlled breeding – evolution takes over: so natural selection with a kick-start.
Surviving in the wild is the lithmus test for all rewilded cattle.
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
In the Tauros Programme, archeozoological material has been collected from a number of institutions to sample for traces of preserved DNA. Professor John McNamara shows an aurochs skull from the Pleistocene period at the World Museum of Man in Florida.
3. DNA-extraction and cloning Even though movies like Jurassic Park might
extremely rare. Even if some intact material could
suggest it’s a piece of cake to extract ancient DNA,
be found and the subsequent cloning would be
implant it in empty egg cells of a similar species
successful, the result would still be just one single
and then let it grow out into the real thing, in
individual, and the important genetic variation
practice it is much more difficult, even if in theory
which still exists within our ancient cattle breeds,
it could be done today. It is also extremely expen-
would be missing. Biodiversity after all also means
sive. The key to possible success would be to have
genetic diversity within the species.
very well preserved genetic material (preferably deep-frozen skin pieces with hair-roots, that are not too many centuries old), but such material is
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Limia
Maremmana Primitiva
Maronesa
Podolica
Sayaguesa
Pajuna
Aurochs 2.0?
How is the Tauros Programme doing it? The Tauros Programme is based on back breeding
were identified that might play a role in the
and makes use of the best available scientific
breeding programme and their DNA has been
knowledge, working together with top-research
analysed on more than 770,000 different points.
institutes from the Universities of Wageningen,
However, a much smaller number will be used.
Dublin, California and others. The Tauros
• Collection of biological material from the
Programme’s four phases:
aurochs (bones, teeth and horn pits), representing a cross-section of aurochs remains from across
1. The start up phase: Breeding for the looks (phenotype) and for quantity.
Europe, which should lead to deeper insights in
From 2008 to 2013, with the focus on research and
• Defining of specific breeding programmes and
the start of an overall breeding programme. The
breeding plans per location/region.
following steps have been taken:
• The actual start of the breeding with 6
• A definition of the selection criteria: the build-
different breeds.
the genetic diversity of the aurochs.
ing-up of the ‘reference’. The Scientific Committee
128
listed the requested aurochs characteristics.
The first crossings were done based on the overall
• Selection of original cattle breeds. To get on
knowledge, since the more detailed genetic
this list a breed has to be ‘original‘ and has to
information was first available in early 2013. By
display some of the desired aurochs characteris-
the end of 2012, one hundred and fifty crossbreds
tics. It’s a delicate balance between wanted traits
were available. The aim is to get as high a number
(to be included in the programme) and unwanted
as possible in this short period of time, to be sure
traits (to be excluded from the programme).
to have a broad base to select upon in the next
About thirty European cattle breeds (see table)
phases.
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Schematic breed scheme for the Tauros Programme, with the desired end-result below
2. The active breeding phase
3. Passive breeding phase
In this phase, the focus lies on upscaling the
In this phase the focus will shift to natural
programme and on selection.
breeding and (strict) selection.
• Bringing Tauros to new areas, ideally
• A further expansion of the breeding
consisting of several smaller breeding areas: a
programme by multiplying the number and size
controlled breeding environment. Each breeding
of the breeding herds, enlarging the breeding
herd consists of 10 to 40 cows of a certain breed
areas (up to 10,000 hectares or more).
with suitable bull/-s of another breed or crossbred
• The active breeding activities, like placing
bulls, if available. As a complementary breeding
new bulls in existing herds, will be terminated
strategy artificial insemination can be used.
when the total genetic diversity is high enough.
• The crossbreds will be evaluated and selected,
There will be ample room for natural processes
also on the genetic level. From the second genera-
and natural selection, although a certain level of
tion onwards, the selection criteria will be applied
artificial selection will remain.
more and more strictly to improve the results
• Animals that do not match the criteria will be
with each new generation.
removed.
• Negotiations with regional, national and
• Further actions to give the Tauros the status of
European authorities to be able to recognise the
wild animal.
status of the animals as a wild species. The animals will still have ear tags, which ensures
4. Natural breeding and natural selection
the movement of animals between countries.
The final stage of the programme, about 20–25 years from the start, natural selection will be the main force of development. The Tauros will be populating increasing areas of wild nature across
‘Evolution never takes the same road twice.’
Europe. Some active selection will still take place and animals that show unwanted characteristics will be deselected. The herds will be monitored. At the end of this phase, the Tauros will be a truly wild animal: the Aurochs 2.0.
The different phases of the Tauros Programme PHASE
I Startup phase
II Active breeding phase
III Passive breeding phase
IV Natural breeding and natural selection
Period
2008–2013
2014–2018
2018–2025
After 2025
Small
Small
Medium
Large
Domestic
Domestic/Feral
Feral
Wild
Active natural breeding Artificial insemination Embryo transplantation Mild selection
Active natural breeding Natural breeding Less artificial insemination Strong selection Less embryo transplantation Selection
Natural selection
Strongly hands-on
Hands-on/Guidelines
Hands-off
Nature Reserve Animal status Breeding strategy
Human action
Guidelines
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List of original European breeds used for the genetic analysis ‘Original’ breed
Country of origin
Alentejana Angler Arouquesa
Portugal Germany Portugal
Berrenda en colorado
Spain
Berrenda en negro
Spain
Busha
Montenegro
Caldela
Spain
Cardena
Spain
Chianina
Italy
Eastern Finn
Finland
English Longhorn
UK
Galloway
UK
Heck cattle
NL
Kalmykian
Mongolia
Kerry cattle
Ireland
Lidia/Toro Bravo
Spain
Limia
Spain
Maremmana Primitiva
Italy
Maronesa
Portugal
Mirandesa
Portugal
Mo Huipym
Chinese
Pajuna
Spain
Podolica Romanian Grey
Italy Romania
Sayaguesa
Spain
Scottish Highlander
NL
Tudanca
NL
Western Finn
Finland
White Park
The Spanish Pajuna cows have the elongated head, typical for the aurochs.
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
UK
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Which breeds will be used? Up to 2013, a number of breeds have been used that were considered suitable. However, the programme is flexible. If new studies would point out that other breeds would also prove useful, they will be incorporated. Especially if suitable breeds are locally available, they could be used as starting herds for crossings. Not only would this lead to higher numbers faster, but it would also be important for enhancing local support of the programme. The most important breeds are:
Pajuna (southern Spain) The Pajuna is a rare cattle breed from Andalucía in A first-generation bull in the Keent nature reserve, the Netherlands.
Southern Spain, with a long-legged athletic body, allowing them to move around the terrain with great ease. Pajuna bulls can reach up to 165 cm shoulder height. The horns, especially of the bulls, are facing forwards and have a light colour with a dark tip. Bulls are dark brown to black with a light eel stripe, while the cows are reddish-brown with a long face. Mitochondrial DNA studies, carried out as part of the Tauros Programme, showed that the Pajuna is also very close to aurochs. They are able to survive under harsh conditions and on poor forage. High in the Spanish Sierra Nevada they live mostly from thorny shrubs. And in the lowland valleys they are known to survive on semi-desert-like vegetation, if needed. The breed adapts easily to changing circumstances, which is also an ancient trait. In Andalucía they are frequently
A dark Pajuna cow from Andalucía in Spain.
kept in larger areas, with a natural herd structure.
Maremmana ‘Primitiva’ (central Italy) The Maremmana breed comes from Maremma, a prairie and coastal dune region in western central Italy. Maremmana cattle are perfectly adapted to wet and marshy areas. Its roots are traced back to the Etruscan era, more than 2,000 years ago. The Maremmana primitiva has strong aurochs features like the size, colour setting, thick horns, clear difference in colour between males and females and a natural herd structure. Studies of their mitochondrial DNA suggest the breed has a direct line to aurochs. They are long-legged and large and and the bulls have a strongly expressed shoulder area. Maremmana primitiva are extremely hardy cattle and survive well on poor forage. And in Italy live in The first Maremmana primitiva bull used in the Tauros Programme.
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
natural, semi-feral herds.
Limia (north-western Spain) The Limia cattle are from Galícia, in northwestern Spain and are a large-sized breed as well. Limia cattle also have clear difference in coat colour and shoulder height between males and females. With their slender bodies they move with great ease, and they are able to survive on poor forage. Galícia is relatively cold and wet, so the animals are used to living in a wet country, with cold and snowy winters, like in the more northern parts of Europe.
Sayaguesa (north-central Spain) The Sayaguesa or Zamorana is an old cattle breed from Sayago in the province of Zamora west of Salamanca in Spain. Traditionally, Sayaguesas
Limia cattle are hardy, docile and adapted to rainy conditions.
were used for pulling ploughs, carts and wagons. It’s a large-sized breed, with bulls weighing on average between 1,000 and 1,100 kg and cows between 650 and 700 kg. The bulls are black and sometimes still have a light eel stripe. The cows often are just slightly lighter than the bulls, since farmers select on black colour, but reddish-brown Sayaguesa cows still can be found. They also have the white coloured muzzle of the aurochs. The horns are aurochs-like and point forward, especially in the bulls. Sayaguesa is a long-legged breed with a curved backline and a long face. The breed is known to be hardy and robust and doesn’t need any shelter or supplementary feeding in the Spanish dehesa-countryside. Their behaviour is quite watchful and shy, and the cows will strongly defend their calves.
The Sayaguesa from Central Spain are already very shy and wild.
Maronesa (northern Portugal) Maronesa is a hardy breed from the Trás-os-Montes region in northern Portugal, living in what is still wolf-country. Some lineages are very aurochslike. The bulls are much larger than the cows, with a dark brown to black coat colour and a light eel stripe, a lightly coloured muzzle and very large horns. Maronesa cows are reddish-brown. The bulls’ heads are large and they are well muscled with a curved backline from the strongly pronounced shoulder part. The horns are thick and point forward. Maronesas are used to harsh conditions with snowy winters and hot summers and able to live without any human management, with calves growing up successfully also with wolves around.
The Portuguese Maronesa know how to survive among wolves.
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Early attempts to bring back the aurochs The first ideas to back breed aurochs were devel-
the brothers claimed to have successfully restored
oped already in the early 1800s, when the Polish
the ‘Auerochse’. After the Nazi take-over in 1933 the
zoologist Feliks Pawol Jarocki had the idea to
ideas of the Heck brothers were incorporated in the
release a number of domesticated cattle in the
Nazi ideology about racial supremacy. Heck cattle
wild. His idea was to release them in phases, at
were presented as a kind of Aryan ‘Über cows’.
first without any wolves around, later completely
Some of the Berlin cattle-herds were released in the
free. His idea (long before Charles Darwin’s theory
hunting grounds of Field Marshal Goering. Some of
on evolution by natural selection was published)
the animals from the Munich Zoo and animals in
was that by releasing cattle, the natural circum-
parks in Augsburg, Munster, and Duisburg survived
stances by selection would ultimately lead to the
the Second World War. All herds of Heck cattle
return of aurochs. As far as known his ideas were
today originate from these animals.
never tried in practise. In the 1920s and 1930s, the brothers Lutz and
134
At a scientific level the attempts of both brothers are now disputed. Compared to the
Heinz Heck in Germany both made attempts
current knowledge about the aurochs, the Heck
to recreate the aurochs. Lutz at the Berlin Zoo
cattle don't come that close. They are small,
and Heinz at the Munich Zoo. The brothers used
haven’t got the slender and elegant proportions
different selections of cattle breeds. In Munich,
of the aurochs and because of the wide variety
breeds such as Hungarian Steppe, Scottish
of breeds used, the breed is not at all very
Highland, Brown, Murnau-Werdenfels, Angeln,
‘stable’. That being said, they have proven to be
German Friesian, Podolica and Corsican breeds
a self-sufficient breed, surviving under pretty
were used. In Berlin, Lutz Heck crossed Spanish and
wild and hard conditions for at least 30 years in
French fighting cattle with other breeds, to intro-
the nature reserve of Oostvaardersplassen in the
duce more aggression. In the midst of the 1930s,
Netherlands.
The Aurochs — born to be wild
Dehesa landscape outside the Monfragüe National Park, Extremadura, Spain. Classic aurochs and cattle country since primordial times.
The so-called Heckcattle was an early attempt to breed back the aurochs, but judged with the current genetic knowledge it was not very successful. However, they have proven to be able to survive a life in the wild for decades.
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Modern attempts There are a couple of other initiatives in Europe
Denmark. The resulting animals definitely
that are trying to recreate a cattle breed that
have some aurochs properties, but lack the
comes close to the aurochs, and several initiatives
slender build. In the German state of Nordrhein-
that try to save different ancient regional cattle
Westfalen the Aueroxen project has taken a
breeds.
different road. They have gradually left the Heck cattle and instead use a combination of Spanish
L’Aurochse or Taurusrind/Aueroxen
(Sayaguesa and Lidia) and Italian (Chiannina)
After 1980, surviving Heck cattle from the Munich
breeds.
bloodline have been used in Germany and France, trying to produce a more aurochs-like animal.
Polish cloning attempt
In Germany, the resulting animals are called
Scientists from the Polish Foundation for
Aueroxen or Taurusrind, in France l’Aurochse.
Recreating the Aurochs (PFOT) want to use DNA
Practically speaking, they are ‘improved’ Heck-
from bones of aurochs in museums to recreate
cattle. In part of the German project also the
the aurochs by cloning. The current state of this
African Zebu-cattle called Watusi has been bred in
project is a bit unclear. Researchers working on
to give bigger horns.
aurochs DNA at the universities of Dublin and
Herds of Taurusrind are used in the management of some nature reserves in Hungary and
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
California consider this as being a very difficult, if not impossible route.
A young bull, one of the very few still existing ‘Maltese ox’ bulls, an ancient breed with many aurochslike traits: large size, shoulder hump, athletic build, whitish muzzle and a yellowish eel stripe.
Saving regional breeds All over Europe regional cattle-breeds are disappearing, replaced by modern breeds such as Limousin, Charolais or Piemontese. One reason is the pressure to increase productivity (more milk, more meat, faster growth) and another is the mechanisation of farming, since ox power can’t quite compete with modern John Deere tractors. But this leads to a loss of genetic diversity. Several local initiatives work to save the original breeds. In Croatia, for example, the Boškarin or Istrian ox was threatened by extinction. It is one
‘The Tauros breeding programme started in 2009, using old handicraft to once again wake up the wild animal in cattle. The results already look very promising.’
of the largest-sized cattle breeds in the world. From a herd of around 60,000 in the 1960s, their numbers had collapsed to slightly more than 100
the characteristic aurochs shoulder hump more
animals in 1994. Thanks to regional initiatives the
evident than in any other breed today. A project
number of animals has now risen to more than
started to ‘re-breed’ the Maltese ox, and now they
thousand again. The same counts for breeds like
have a breeding group of the fifth generation.
the Pajuna in Spain (still threatened by extinction) and the Maronesa in Portugal. The Maltese ox is yet another ancient cattle-breed that almost went extinct. They are very large-sized animals, once mainly used for ox-cart-pulling, with bulls having
The huge Boškarin cattle breed was under serious threat of extinction, but it is now on the safe side again and has become a national symbol of Croatia.
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Results from the Tauros Programme Science now knows how the different European primitive breeds relate to each other and also know increasingly more how they relate to the aurochs. The detailed analysis of ancient DNA from the aurochs samples from European collections has not quite yet delivered its results quite yet, but thanks to the research group of Professor Bradley at the University of Dublin, Trinity College, who are working on sequencing the complete genome of an aurochs from Britain, the Wageningen University and the Tauros Programme has access to the information from the ancient DNA of this animal, which is about 8,800 years old. This made it possible, for the first time ever, to construct a genealogical tree of the aurochs, connected to that of still living cattle-breeds. In these analyses the Iberian breeds seem to be a little further off from the analysed British aurochs. However, in the analyses of the mitochondrial DNA (via the maternal line) some of the Iberian breeds such as the Pajuna, Lidia and Mirandesa and the podolican breeds Chiannina, Podolica and Romanian grey were closer to Aurochs. To get a better insight in the relation between the Iberian breeds and the aurochs, it would be extremely useful to also have the DNA from an Iberian aurochs analysed in detail. There is also on-going work to get to know more about the genetic variation within the aurochs. The University of California is now analysing the DNA of an aurochs from Poland, which died in as late as the Middle Ages. Once DNA-sequences of other aurochs become available, it should be possible to further refine the analysis. The working-hypothesis for the Tauros Programme so far is that a crossing of Iberian and Podolican breeds is in the right direction. There will also be thorough genetic screening of the Tauros crossbreds, to be able to make further selections already at an early age of the animals, which would further speed up the process.
Although the final DNA research results are yet far from complete, the Tauros Programme is fully on its way and the second generation crossings are already here. The bull calf is Maremmana primitiva x (Maremmana primitiva x Pajuna). It will soon change to its adult colour, black.
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Worldwide attention The Tauros Programme has already attracted
than five can be seen there, together with a large
worldwide attention from scientific institutions,
number of crossbreeds). Although the reserve
individual scientists, museums, nature conserva-
is still fairly small (200 hectares), the visitor can
tion organisations, cattle-breed enthusiasts and a
already get the ‘wild’ feeling here and wander
wide range of media.
peacefully through the herds of the different
By 2013, there is a strong network of organ-
cattle breeds, meet the impressive bull Manolo
isations, institutions and relations that have
Uno and as a bonus also meet groups of an ancient
helped the original idea grow into a Europe-wide
horse breed called the Exmoor pony.
initiative. The birth of the first crossbred calf,
Portrait of a Galícian Limia cow, Keent nature reserve, The Netherlands.
A first impression of what could later be
‘Manolo Uno’, in the summer of 2010, led to
expected at a much larger scale in several loca-
articles in the National Geographic Magazine and
tions in Europe over the coming decades…
in Time Magazine in 2010. Since then the Tauros Programme has been described in media such as
Breeding programmes in the rewilding areas
Le Monde, de Volkskrant, de Standaard and The
In Western Iberia it starts with carefully selected
New Yorker.
individuals of Sayaguesa and Maronesa cattle. In
In 2010, the Taurus foundation signed an
Velebit instead Boškarin and other Podolic vari-
agreement with the Dutch foundation ARK
eties will be involved in the programme and for
Nature, with the goal to create a breeding herd of
the Danube Delta further research has taken place
100 Tauros animals in the Kempen Broek nature
on the Sura the Stepa which is still available in the
reserve in The Netherlands.
area, as a possible founder breed.
In 2012, the initiative grew further through an
During the coming years subpopulations of
agreement with the Rewilding Europe foundation.
Tauros will emerge that are increasingly better
In 2009, the Dutch nature conservation
adapted to life in natural conditions. Tauros that
organisation ‘Stichting Brabants Landschap’
show an increasing similarity with its wild ances-
offered their Keent nature reserve to be used as
tors. For at least those European regions, these
the principal breeding ground for the Tauros in
first breeding groups serve as an example and
the Netherlands, which made it possible for the
eventually become source populations for much
Taurus foundation to start breeding out its plans
larger natural areas. Thus bringing the return of a
into a living herd. Today, Keent is an area with an
European icon a lot closer.
exciting mix of original, ancient breeds (no less
This aurochs 2.0 will be called the Tauros.
The logo for the Tauros programme was donated by WILD 10, the 10:th World Wilderness Congress, in Salamanca, Spain 2013. It is based on a scene from the Spanish Altamira caves. The next spread shows the massive land abandonment in the dehesa near Ciudad Rodrigo in the Salamanca province, Spain. Low-productivity farming and pasture lands are being abandoned all across Europe. The EU estimates the farmland abandonment in the EU until 2030 to amount to approx. 168,000 km2. The trend is even the same outside the EU. So the Europeans have to decide what to do with these lands. Keep them open, but rewilded, with wild herbivores doing the job and at very low cost? Keep them open, but instead through massive and expensive subventions? Or let them just turn into useless bush? Or into wind farms, solar energy factories or tree monoculture plantations? Except for the rewilding option, all the other alternatives offer really low biodiversity.
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The rewilding of Europe
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The rewilding of Europe Making Europe a wilder place The comeback of the aurochs or Tauros is part of a much bigger story: the rewilding of Europe. Our continent is changing right in front of our eyes, and in several ways simultaneously: Young people move to towns and cities. They don’t want to become goatherds, housewives or olive pickers – they want education and a wider choice of jobs, lifestyle and partners. More food is produced on a smaller surface. Biodiversity, which was connected to the old landscapes, is disappearing because of more intensive forestry, farming and fisheries. On the other hand, virtually all the large wildlife species are returning, because of an attitude shift among the Europeans and because of the decisions they have made regarding nature conservation. There is also a large-scale farmland abandonment in Europe’s more remote areas and on its less productive soils. At the moment, fewer people than ever have their main income from farming. The battle for food is no longer fought on every square meter. These are changes that are not only problems, some of these also offer new opportunities for people living in the countryside, as well as for nature and wildlife. In some cases, the best opportunities these have seen in centuries. A new conservation initiative, Rewilding Europe, suggests making good use of these realities and helping Europe become a wilder place. With the radically simple idea to allow nature to take care of herself more. For the sake of nature and for the sake of people.
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High-tech farming drives the change The latest developments in farming allow farmers
which leave smaller amounts of pesticides and
to grow the food we all need on a much smaller
fertilisers in the environment and require less
surface and possibly even with a lower environ-
energy for the production of food than the
mental impact. A development that means that,
current methods.
even if the number of people in the world would
farming will provide room to other ways to use
areas will still no longer be necessary in order to
the more marginal farmlands, often old culture
produce food for us all.
landscapes that are richer in wildlife and plant
From nature’s perspective this means two
146
And another thing, the intensification of
grow to 9 billion, a lot of marginal farmland
life. The question is just which alternatives to
things: the concentration of high-tech farming
choose for these lands? Because of low prices of
on a smaller surface means that those areas will
land, these areas are now increasingly used for
only be suitable for very few domestic plants
tree plantations, wind farms or the production
and animals. So the remaining biodiversity
of biofuel. Something not only very costly and
will decrease even more. However, that loss
unsustainable, since these activities are often
might be marginal compared to the already
strongly subsidised, but it also is a great threat
very intensive farming on these lands today.
against many ancient and beautiful landscapes,
Moreover, it seems as if nature and the environ-
that risk being turned into very ugly-looking
ment could also benefit from the new methods,
industrialised areas with a low biodiversity.
The Aurochs — born to be wild
In Europe, most of the farming is now a large scale, high intensity big business on the most productive soils, like here in Central Spain. The previous page shows a red deer (Cervus elaphus) stag during the rut.
Leaving for the towns and cities Parallel with this rapid development in farming,
per year. That’s equivalent to the size of Belgium
there is another on-going process with major
in just three years’ time. When people disappear,
effects on nature. Worldwide, especially the young
so do their livestock. Hundreds of complete ghost
are simply leaving the countryside. Within 35
towns are the silent witnesses of this process
years, 75% of the world population and 85% of the
all over Europe, for example in the Carpathians,
Europeans are expected to live in cities or towns.
across Spain or in the Baltic countries.
Like it or not, apparently city life is more
The less productive, high biodiversity landscapes are instead being abandoned. No one will plough these olive yards near Castelo Rodrigo in Portugal after José Maria Felíx, 89 years, and his donkey quit.
The first areas to be abandoned are the
attractive than ever. Aided by modern media,
marginal areas that were put under the plough
people all around the world now know which
as late as the times of food scarcity during the
activities are ‘in’ and which places are ‘hot’ to live.
industrial revolution in the 1800s. In just a few
Especially young people don’t aim for a career as a
decades the landscapes with poor, stony soils,
shepherd or crofter if they can choose a future in
farmed with great effort between hand-built
the city or in tourist areas along some coastline.
stone walls, are being overgrown by shrubs and
This is not just a question about income and jobs,
trees. In which only those species survive that
it’s more a choice of lifestyle. Many don't want to
can live within closed thickets or young forest.
live among the goats, donkeys or potato fields.
Such overgrown landscapes also tend to be more
They want a more comfortable life with more
prone to burn in large-scale fires. Where previ-
choices – of education, jobs, partners and leisure
ously a grass fire would have blackened the land-
activities.
scape for a while, but left the trees unharmed,
The remote countryside within the EU is being abandoned at a rate of almost a million hectares
now fires lead to whole ecosystems burning down completely.
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147
Europe's nature needs the aurochs After millions of years of co-evolution between
covered for more than about 20% of these areas.
Europe’s vegetation and its wild herbivores,
That means that for the management of 80%
followed by thousands of years in which domesti-
of Natura 2000 there is no funding. However,
cated variants of the same animals instead shaped
management of nature of course doesn’t really
the vegetation, for the first time in history both
need to be very expensive, since honestly, how
wild and domestic grazers are gone and at a large
many employees do you really need to watch the
scale. When the large herbivores disappear, so do
grass grow?
thousands of other species connected to the open
outcompeted, unprofitable old farming systems
at stake here is simply the survival of a large part
that makes the ‘management’ of European nature
of Europe’s biodiversity. Therefore, the comeback
so expensive. With yearly subsidies of hundreds
of grazing and browsing as a natural process is
of millions of euros, the EU tries to preserve the
extremely important for nature and rewilding
open landscapes, but it still doesn’t work, since
in Europe. This is why wild cattle are needed so
the biodiversity of the open lands continues to
badly. That’s why the Tauros, as the closest possible
decrease. Many of the involved parties now believe
stand-in for the aurochs, has a key position here.
that it’s no use to try to keep this system alive,
Many of the abandoned areas mentioned
148
Instead, it’s our somewhat nostalgic craving for
lands. This is a major ecological problem. What’s
since it is economically unsustainable. Maybe it
above are included in the Natura 2000 network of
would be better to go back to the basics instead:
protected areas. Today (2013), this covers almost
to allow nature do the job herself. To give room
18% of Europe's land surface. A major victory
to the natural processes that have developed over
for nature conservation, but the problem is that
millions of years of co-evolution and resulted in
the management costs for Natura 2000 are not
the biodiversity that’s now at stake.
The Aurochs — born to be wild
The artist Jeroen Helmer’s vision of a rewilded Western Iberian landscape. Rewilding is a way to create a new business case for the wild, using nature and wildlife in new and more profitable ways than before.
A map showing areas in the EU with high levels of expected farmland abandonment (dark green) and urbanisation (red) by 2030. By the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP).
Letting nature be nature Having nature’s own way of doing things firmly
for the survival of our often spectacularly beau-
back in place would most likely be the best guar-
tiful landscapes. Landscapes in which also carni-
antee for maintaining nature and its variety of
vores and scavengers find a place and which, in
life at a high level, and at much, much lower costs
combination with the rich, ancient local history
than at present.
and culture, provides a basis for new incomes in
The comeback of the natural grazers, such
rural economies, where natural values are used in
as the wild horse, the European bison, deer, ibex
new ways. This, of course, requires people to think
and definitely also the aurochs, plays a major role
a bit outside the box. Suddenly, a wolf can be worth
in this. Natural grazing provides high biodiver-
a lot of money instead of being a cost. In this way, a
sity and ‘natural firebreaks’, while it costs barely
forest can be worth more left standing, rather than
anything. At the same time, it’s the best guarantee
just cut down and made into toilet paper.
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
Treating nature as an ally, not an enemy A hundred years ago, almost 80% of Europeans were directly or indirectly involved in farming the land. Nowadays only a few percent are. The change from a farming to an industrial society has made a growing majority of people look differently at nature. Nature has changed in our minds, it used to be something that you had to fight against in order to carve out your daily living, instead it is seen as something that also fills several other needs; our need to see natural beauty and the joys of the wild, having our drinking water cleaned, floods prevented, avalanches avoided, etc. Nature is becoming a backdrop for vacation, outdoor activities and weekend getaways. Compact, robust nature near the towns and cities, grand landscapes with spectacular wildlife beyond that. The economic value of nature is also shifting, from harvesting only, into ways that instead allows nature to be herself. The wildness of nature turns out to become a vitally important economic factor. ‘Wild’ today not only means ‘Free’ but also ‘Valuable’. A number of examples from Africa and North America over the last decade demonstrate this very clearly. One out of every 100 dollars of all goods and services produced in the USA today comes from wildlife-related recreation, amounting to a yearly total of 145 billion USD. Considering that Europe often follows USA in social trends, this means that also in Europe wildlife will shortly become big business. With the added value that wildlife adventures here can be experienced in a setting with ancient villages, cities, shrines, local cuisine and cultural landscapes. A unique combination. Land abandonment is not just a socio-economic disaster, it should also be seen as a great resource and opportunity for a new countryside economy. A brown bear (Ursus arctos) footprint in the Bieszczady National Park, Poland. While some wild animals need a bit of extra help to find their way back, for others it is mainly a matter of stopping the poachers or regulating the hunting. The brown bear is slowly coming back in Northern and Central Europe and the wolf is quickly returning — now even to Belgium and the Netherlands. In order to reduce predator damage on livestock it is really important that the wild herbivore populations are given the opportunity to grow in number.
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The wildlife comeback When you don’t have to fight against nature every
Indeed, the wildlife comeback seems to
day, it allows you to look at it with a different
happen faster in the more densely populated
attitude. More distant for sure, somewhat alien-
northwestern Europe than in the sparsely popu-
ated maybe, but also much more relaxed, for
lated mountain areas of the southeast. Again
example when dealing with large carnivores and
proving that a changed attitude towards nature
birds of prey, which in the past were often only
has resulted in the most important positive
seen as direct competitors. Bans on the most toxic
impact. The countries with highly regulated and
pesticides, combined with the continuing land
managed hunting activities, better law enforce-
abandonment and better protection of nature
ment, less poaching or poisoned baits and enough
by law has meant new opportunities for wildlife,
food in the cities, offer many animals a better
and a growing group of large wildlife species are
chance at survival compared to the areas where
grabbing these opportunities.
enforcement is less developed and poaching is the
Who would have thought twenty years ago, that today we would have a spectacular wildlife
order of the day. In particular, areas in the South, East and the
comeback happening right in front of our eyes?
far North of Europe have the potential to grow
With the wolf coming back to most European
into world-class wildlife and wilderness areas.
countries, including the densely populated
With wolves, bears, lynx and jackals nearby, and
Netherlands, the bear quickly increasing in
vultures and eagles in the skies overhead. With
numbers and the elk again widening its distri-
wild rivers running as arteries of life, but also as
bution range? A more than ten-fold increase in
carriers of people in canoes and rafts. Qualities
the number of white-tailed sea eagles, beavers,
that can compete with the best nature spots else-
whooper swans and cranes, as well as major
where in the world.
increases in the numbers of several dozens of other species. Even though more people than ever live in Europe, wildlife seems to be allowed more space today than centuries back.
The wild horse is another forgotten key species in Europe’s ecosystems. The Exmoor pony is one of the surviving original European horse breeds. It already lives a wild life in nature reserves in the Netherlands and in the UK.
Younger generations are voting for a wilder version of nature, and the aurochs or Tauros is a very strong symbol for it. The wildness of the aurochs completely fits in with this image of a modern Europe. The wildlife comeback to Europe. The return of the aurochs would be the crowning jewel of this work, somehow closing the circle that began with the story about the abduction of Europa by Zeus in the form of a bull.
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Rewilding Europe
154
This international initiative started in 2011 and
back the variety of life for us all to enjoy. Which
has the main goal to help make Europe a wilder
means more space for free-flowing, living rivers,
place. Focusing on creating 10 large rewilding
for natural forest development and the comeback
areas of at least 100,000 hectares each and until
of wildlife. Rewilding Europe also has a strong
2022 turning them into showcases for rewilding
focus on involving the local people, exploring new
in Europe. This in order to inspire people to start
ways for them and others to earn a fair living from
rewilding their natural areas in other places.
the wild. Today already rewilding enterprises have
Trying to create much more space for wildlife,
begun to use capital from a new European rewil-
wilderness and natural processes, while bringing
ding investment fund: ‘Rewilding Europe Capital’.
The Aurochs — born to be wild
The Tauros Programme, run by the Taurus Foundation and the Rewilding Europe initiative, will see many more releases, like these Sayaguesas into the Campanarios de Azaba reserve, Born to be Wild.
Close cooperation is sought with local NGOs, but also with municipalities, hunting associations, businesses and forestry services. Wildlife plays a key role in all the activities of Rewilding Europe. Wildlife is a major driving force for biodiversity, a strong focal point for communications and vitally important for the business cases to be able to develop. In short, wildlife is the soul of rewilding. The aurochs is one of its Top soul stars.
‘The myriad of life forms that are bound to open lands, manure or carcasses, can only be explained by thousands of years of evolution with masses of large herbivores.’
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Glossary Abbreviated mtDNA: a short part of mitochondrial DNA AD: Anno Domini, the number of years after Christ, 0. Agriculture: also called farming or husbandry, is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi, and other life forms for food, fiber, biofuel, medicines and other products. Archaeozoology: the study of the relationship between humans and animals over time, and the study of the remains of dead animals, such as bones, shells, hair, chitin, scales, hides, proteins and DNA. Autosomal DNA: a term used to describe DNA which is inherited from the autosomal chromosomes, which is a chromosome that is not a sex chromosome. Biodiversity: the degree of variation of life forms within a given species, region or habitat. Bovine: the subfamily Bovinae includes a mixed group of 10 genera of medium to large-sized ungulates, including domestic cattle, bison, African buffalo, water buffalo, yak, and the four-horned and spiral-horned antelopes. General characteristics include cloven hooves and usually at least one of the sexes of a species has true horns. BP: Before present Breed: a specific group of domestic animals or plants that more or less look and behave in the same way. Browsing: a type of feeding, in which a herbivore feeds on leaves, soft shoots, or fruits from high reaching, generally woody plants such as shrubs or trees. Carnivory: the process in which an animal eats other animals. Denisovans: a Paleolithic species or subspecies of Homo sapiens, named the remote Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains in Siberia. Denisovans interbred with Neanderthals and modern humans. Domestic animal: animal held by humans for human purposes. Domestication: the process in which a population of living organisms changes at the genetic level, through generations of selective breeding, to select traits that benefit humans Ecological facilitation: how one organism profits from the presence of another. Ecosystem: a community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) together with the non-living components within their environment (things like air, water, minerals and soil), interacting as a system. Eel stripe: also called a dorsal line, spinal stripe, or list. In the case of the aurochs, a yellow-whitish line running down the spine from neck to tail. Eurasia: a combination of the land masses and the two names of Europe and Asia. Feral: a feral animal is an animal living in the wild but descended from domesticated individuals. Forage: is amongst land animals plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems). Genotype: the genetic makeup of a cell, an organism, or an individual. Grazing: a type of feeding, in which a herbivore feeds on plants such as grasses or other low vegetation. Haplotype: a combination of alleles (DNA sequences) in adjacent locations (loci) on a chromosome, that are inherited together. Herbivory: the process in which an animal eats plants. Holocene: a geological period that began around 11,700 years ago, the end of the Pleistocene] continuing to the present.
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The Aurochs — born to be wild
Homo sapiens: is the scientific name for the human species. Homo is the human genus, which also includes Neanderthals and many other extinct species of homonids; H. sapiens is the only surviving species of the genus. Hypsodont dentition: characterised by high-crowned teeth which extends far past the tissue that surrounds the necks of teeth and which provides extra material for wear and tear. Among the animals with hypsodont dentition are cows and horses; all animals that feed on gritty, fibrous material. Interglacial: a period between two ice ages that is a bit warmer. Isotope: a variant of a chemical element, such as Iron or Nitrogen, that contains more neutrons in its core compared to the standard element. Megafauna: large or relatively large animals of a particular place or time period. Examples are the mammoth and woolly rhino. Mitochondrial DNA, mtDNA: the DNA located in certain parts of bodycells (in cells with a nucleus) called mitochondria. Mitochondria are structures within cells that convert the chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate (ATP). They are our bodies’ powerplants. Muzzle: the snout of an animal. Neanderthals: an extinct human species (Homo neanderthalensis) or subspecies (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) that lived during the late Pleistocene throughout most of Europe and Asia. The Neolithic or New Stone age: considered to be the last part of the Stone Age and was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 12,200 years ago. The Paleolithic: a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of stone tools. It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools 2.6 million years ago, to the end of the Pleistocene around 11,700 years ago. Paleontology: the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine the evolution of organisms and their interactions with each other and their environments. Phenotype: the visual makeup of an organism's characteristics and behaviour. Pleistocene: the geological period that lasted from about 2.6 million years ago to 11,700 years ago, the start of the Holocene. The Pleistocene is the epoch with the most recent ice ages. Podolian breeds or Podolic cattle: a group of cattle breeds found in the Balkans, Hungary and Italy. Population: the total of all the individuals of the same group of a species living in the same geographical area and can breed with one another. Sexual dimorphism: the difference between males and females of the same species, meaning that there are obvious differences between the male and female of the species. Species: one of the basic units of biological classification, often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. Taurine cattle: (Bos taurus taurus) are the typical cattle of Europe, north-eastern Asia, and parts of northern Africa. Y-chromosome: the sex chromosome associated with male characteristics in mammals, not occurring in females, but occurring together with one X-chromosome in the male sex-chromosome pair. Zebuine cattle: or (Bos primigenius namadicus or Bos namadicus or Bos taurus namadicus), sometimes known as Brahman cattle, are a type of domestic cattle originating from south Asia.
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Chapter 3: Extinct but still kicking
Baena, Pablo Manzano & Casas, Raquel, (2010). ‘Past, presence and future of Transhumancia in Spain; nomadism in a developed country’. Pastoralism, vol 1. No. 1, p.72-90. Frank, D.A., McNaughton, S.J. and Tracy, B.F. (1998). ‘The ecology of the earth’s grazing ecosystems’, BioScience 48, 513-521. FREE Nature, (2012). ‘Natural grazing, practices of rewilding horses and bovines’. 64 p. Institute for European Environmental Policy, (2010). Farmland Abandonment in the EU: an Assessment of Trends and Prospects. Navarro, L.M., & Pereira H.M, (2012). ‘Rewilding abandoned landscapes in Europe’. Ecosystems 15: 900-912. Vera, Frans W. M., (1997). ‘Metaphors for the Wilderness: Oak, Hazel, Cattle and Horse.’ Ph.D. diss., Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Vera, F., Buissink, F. and Weidema, J. (2007) ‘Wilderness in Europe’.
Achilli A., Bonfiglio S., Olivieri A., Malusà A., Pala, M., et al. (2009), ‘The Multifaceted Origin of Taurine Cattle Reflected by the Mitochondrial Genome’. PLoS ONE 4(6). Ajmone-Marsan P., Garcia J.F., and Lenstra J.A. 2010.’On the origin of cattle: How aurochs became cattle and colonized the world’. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 19(4):148-157. Balter, Michael (2005). The Goddess and the Bull: Catalhoyuk, An Archaeological Journey to the Dawn of Civilization. New York: Free Press. Graeme Barker (25 March 2009). The Agricultural Revolution in Prehistory: Why did Foragers become Farmers?. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-955995-4. Retrieved 15 August 2012. Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel (July 29, 2011). ‘When the World’s Population Took Off: The Springboard of the Neolithic Demographic Transition’. Science 333 (6042): 560-561. Bollongino, Ruth, et al. ‘Modern Taurine Cattle descended from small number of Near-Eastern founders’, in: Molecular Biology and Evolution. 7 Mar 2012. Clutton-Brock, J. (1999). A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals, Cambridge UK. Loftus, Ronan T.; MacHugh, David E.; Bradley, Daniel G.; Sharp, Paul M.; Cunningham, Patrick’Evidence for Two Independent Domestications of Cattle’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Volume 91, Issue 7, p. 2757-2761, 03/1994. Richerson, Peter J., et al. (2001). ‘Was Agriculture Impossible during the Pleistocene but Mandatory during the Holocene?’. American Antiquity 66 (3): 387-411. Wendorf, Fred and Romuald Schild (1994), ‘Are the early Holocene cattle in the eastern Sahara domestic or wild?’, Evolutionary Anthropology 3(4), p. 97-123.
Chapter 2: Ice Age II Black Sea research, online at www.ifremer.fr/assemblage Burney, D. A., Flannery, T. F. (July 2005). ‘Fifty millennia of catastrophic extinctions after human contact’. Trends in Ecology & Evolution (Elsevier) 20 (7): 395-401.doi:10.1016/j.tree.2005.04.022. Coles, B.J., 1999, ‘Doggerland’s loss and the Neolithic’. In: B. Coles, J. Coles and M. Schon Jorgensen (eds) Bog Bodies, Sacred Sites and Wetland Archaeology, 51-57. WARP Occasional Paper 12. Exeter. Doggerland project, online at humanities.exeter.ac.uk/archaeology/ research/projects/title_89282_en. Huybers, P., Wunsch, C. (2005). ‘Obliquity pacing of the late Pleistocene glacial terminations’. Nature 434 (7032): 491-494. Imbrie, J.; Imbrie, K.P (1979). ‘Ice ages: solving the mystery’. Short Hills NJ: Enslow Publishers. ISBN 978-0-89490-015-0. Kilti, R. A. (1988). ‘Seasonality, gestation time, and large mammal extinctions’. In Martin, P.S., Klein R.G. ‘Quaternary extinctions: A prehistoric revolution’. Tucson, AZ: Univ. Arizona Press. pp. 354-404. ISBN 0-8165-1100-4. Kunkel, T. (2005), ‘To what extent has climate constrained the distribution of beech (Fagus sylvatica) 6000 years BP in Europe?’, Wissenschaftliche Arbeit zum Magister Scientiarum, Institut für Physische Geographie Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. Kurtén, Björn, ‘Pleistocene Mammals of Europe’, Chicago, (1968), second edition, (2009). Magyari, E., ‘Holocene biogeography of Fagus sylvatica L. and Carpinus betulus L. in the Carpathian-Alpine Region’, FOLIA HISTORICO-NATURALIA MUSEI MATRAENSIS 26, (2002), pp. 15-35. Martin P. S. (1967). ‘Prehistoric overkill’. In Martin, P.S. Wright, H.E. ‘Pleistocene extinctions: The search for a cause’. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press. ISBN 0-300-00755-8. Martin P. S. (1989). ‘Prehistoric overkill: A global model’. In Martin, P.S., Klein, R.G. ‘Quaternary extinctions: A prehistoric revolution’. Tucson, AZ: Univ. Arizona Press. pp. 354-404. ISBN 0-8165-1100-4. McClellan, James Edward; Dorn, Harold (2006). ‘Science and technology in world history: an introduction’. JHU Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-8018-8360-6. McEwen E., Bergman R., Miller C., ‘Early bow design and construction’. Scientific American (1991), vol. 264, p 76-82. Mitchell-Jones, A. J., Amori, G., Bogdanowicz, W, Kryštufek, B, Reijnders, P. J. H, Spitzenberger, F., Stubbe, M., Thissen, J. B. M, Vohralík, V. & Zima, J. (1999) ‘The Atlas of European mammals’. T & AD Poyser Ltd. & Academic Press, London, UK. Paleobiology Database, free and online on paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl Ponomarev, Dmitry; Puzachenko, Andrey; Bachura, Olga; Kosintsev, Pavel; Plicht, Johannes van der (2012), ‘Mammal Fauna during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene in the far Northeast of Europe’, BOREAS An international journal of Quaternary research, p. 779-797. Pucek, Z., Belousova I.P, Krasiñska, M, Krasiñski, Z.A, and Olech, W. (2002), ‘EUROPEAN BISON Bison bonasus: Current state of the species and an action plan for its conservation’, Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Bialowieza Rokosz, M., ‘History of the Aurochs (Bos taurus primigenius) in Poland’, Animal Genetic Resources Information, Volume 16, April 1995, p. 5-12. Ryan, W.B.F., Pitman III, W.C., et al. (1997). ‘An abrupt drowning of the Black Sea shelf’. Marine Geology, 138: p. 119-126. Sommer, R. & Benecke, N. (2005), ‘Late-Pleistocene and early Holocene history of the canid fauna of Europe (Canidae)’. Mammalian Biology, 70, 224-241. Sommer, R. S. & Benecke, N. (2006), ‘Late Pleistocene and Holocene development of the felid fauna (Felidae) of Europe: a review’. Journal of Zoology, 269, 7-19. Terberger, Thomas (2006). ‘From the First Humans to the Mesolithic Hunters in the Northern German Lowlands, Current Results and Trends’. In Hansen, Keld Møller; Pedersen, Kristoffer Buck. Across the Western Baltic. Sydsjællands Museums Publikationer Vol. 1.ISBN 87-983097-5-7. Vörös, I. (1983), ‘Lion remains from the Late Neolithic and Copper Age of the Carpathian Basin’. Folia Archaeologica, 34, 33-50
Chapter 4: The Animal Alessandro Achilli, Anna Olivieri, Marco Pellecchia, Cristina Uboldi, Licia Colli, Nadia Al-Zahery, Matteo Accetturo, Maria Pala, Baharak Hooshiar Kashani, Ugo A. Perego, Vincenza Battaglia, Simona Fornarino, Javad Kalamati, Massoud Houshmand, Riccardo Negrini, Ornella Semino, Martin Richards, Vincent Macaulay, Luca Ferretti, Hans-Jürgen Bandelt, Paolo Ajmone-Marsan and Antonio Torroni, Mitochondrial genomes of extinct aurochs survive in domestic cattle, in: Current Biology volume 18, no 4, 2008. Edwards, C.J., Magee, D.A., Park, S.D.E., McGettigan, P.A., Lohan, A.J., et al., A Complete Mitochondrial Genome Sequence from a Mesolithic Wild Aurochs (Bos primigenius). PLoS ONE 5(2): e9255. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0009255, 2010. Felius. M., Cattle Breeds: An Encyclopedia, Doetinchem, 1995. Claude GUINTARD, Le cornage primigène (ou primigenius), caractéristiques, variabilité et intérêt pour lʼaurochs-reconstitué, in: Revue de Paléobiologie, Genève (décembre 2005) Vol. spéc. 10, pages: 259-269, 2005. David M. Hillis, The Genetics of Coloration in Texas Longhorns, in: Texas Longhorn Trails, June edition, 2004. René Kysely, Aurochs and potential crossbreeding with domestic cattle in Central Europe in the Eneolithic period. A metric analysis of bones from the archaeological site of Kutná Hora-Denemark (Czech Republic), in: Anthropozoologica 43 (2), 2008. Martina Lari, Ermanno Rizzi, Stefano Mona, Giorgio Corti, Giulio Catalano, Kefei Chen, Cristiano Vernesi, Greger Larson, Paolo Boscato, Gianluca De Bellis, Alan Cooper, David Caramelli, and Giorgio Bertorelle, The Complete Mitochondrial Genome of an 11,450-year-old Aurochsen (Bos primigenius) from Central Italy, in: BMC Evolutionary Biology, 2011. Daniel Lipinski, Hanna Pryzstalowska, Marlena Szalata, Joanna Zeyland, Karolina Wielgus, Hieronim Frackowiak, Alexander M. Dzieduszycki, Miroslaw S. Ryba, Ryszard Slomski, Biotechnology in the restoration of extinct animal species. An analysis of genomic and mitochondrial DNA of aurochs, in: BioTechnologia, vol. 92, pages: 13-21, 2011. Anthony H. Lynch, Julie Hamilton & Robert E.M. Hedges, Where the wild things are: aurochs and cattle in England, in: ANTIQUITY 82, pages: 1025-1039, 2008. Stefano Mona, Giulio Catalano, Martina Lari, Greger Larson, Paolo Boscato, Antonella Casoli, Luca Sineo, Carolina Di Patti, Elena Pecchioli, David Caramelli, Giorgio Bertorelle, Population dynamic of the extinct European aurochs: genetic evidence of a north-south differentiation pattern and no evidence of post-glacial expansion, in: BMC Evolutionary Biology 10:83, 2010. N. Noe-Nygaard, T.D. Price, S.U. Hede, Diet of aurochs and early cattle in southern Scandinavia: evidence from 15N and 13C stable isotopes, in: Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume: 32, Issue: 6, Pages: 855-871, 2005. Olson, T. A., Genetics of Colour Variation, Published in: Fries, R. & Ruvinsky, A., The Genetics of Cattle. p. 33-53. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, United Kingdom, 1999. Patou-Mathis, et al., Aurochs, le Retour; aurochs, vaches et autres bovins de la prehistoire a nos jours, 1994.
Priskin, K., Tömöry, G., Bogácsi-Szabó, E., Csányi B, Raskó, I., Mitochondrial DNA control region analysis of a late Neolithic aurochs (Bos primigenius Boj. 1827) from the Carpathian Basin, in: Acta Biologica Hungarica, 58 Suppl:131-7, 2007. Rokosz, M., History of the aurochs (Bos taurus primigenius) in Poland, in: Animal Genetic Resources Information 16, pages: 5-12, 1995. Sheila Schmutz, Genetics of Coat Color in Cattle, online, University of Saskatchewan, 2010. Towers, Jaqueline; Montgomery, Janet; Evans, Jane; Jay, Mandy; Pearson, Mike Parker. An investigation of the origins of cattle and aurochs deposited in the Early Bronze Age barrows at Gayhurst and Irthlingborough, in: Journal of Archaeological Sciences, 37 (3). 508-515, 2009. Van Vuure, C.T., History, morphology and ecology of the Aurochs (Bos primigenius). Lutra 45-1, 2002. Vuure, C., Retracing the Aurochs: History, Morphology and Ecology of an Extinct Wild Ox. Pensoft Publishers. SofiaMoscow, 2005. Witold Brudnicki, Adam Brudnicki, Krzysztof Kirkiłło-Stacewicz, Karol Grzywac, Włodzimierz Nowicki, Benedykt koczylas, Jan Wach, The characteristics of the cheek teeth in Aurochs (Bos Primigenius Bojanus [1827] from the Tuchola Forest, in: ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF POLISH AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITIES, 2011, 14(4), 10-10.
Chapter 5: The Bull story McInerney, Jeremy, (2010). ‘The Cattle of the Sun. Cows and Culture in the World of the Ancient Greeks’. Princeton University Press. Rifkin, Jeremy, (1992). ‘Beyond Beef-The rise and fall of the cattle culture’. Penguin Publishers. Johns, Catherine, (2011). ‘Cattle-History, Myth, Art’. The British Museum Press. Lascaux virtual trip: (www.lascaux.culture.fr). Herzog, Werner, (2012): 3-D movie: ‘Cave of the forgotten dreams’. Course Landaise: www.youtube.com/watch?v=As2oZXZAwbo. Indian Bullock cart race: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=iMAT0Qb6b1g.
Chapter 6: The Aurochs 2.0 Van Vuure, Cis, (2005): ‘Retracing the Aurochs: History, Morphology and Ecology of an Extinct Wild Ox’. Pensoft Publishers. Caesar, Julius, ‘Gallic Wars’ Translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn. German Aueroxen project: www.aueroxen.de. Taurusrind project: www.nrw-stiftung.de/projekte/bericht. php?bid=24. Maltese oxen: www.allmalta.com/folklore/past01. The Kempen~Broek area in the Netherlands: www.ark.eu/ark/werk-in-uitvoering/klimaatbuffers/ grenspark-kempen-broek. The Keent area the Netherlands: www.keent.net. National Geographic Magazine, July 2010: ‘Ox Redux’. Time Magazine, February 12, 2010: ‘Breeding Ancient Cattle Back from Extinction’. Le Monde, November 1, 2011: ‘Ils veulent ressusciter l’auroch’. De Volkskrant, September 4, 2010: ‘Een oerrund knutselen’. De Standaard, February 3, 2013: ‘Uitgestorven, maar niet voor altijd. De Oeros verrijst’. The New Yorker, December 24, 2012: ‘Recall of the Wild. The quest to engineer a world before humans’.
Chapter 7: Rewilding Bindraban, P.S. & Rabbinge, R. (2011). ‘European food and agricultural strategy for 21st century’. Cairns, P., Möllers, F., Widstrand, S. & Wijnberg, B. (2010), ‘Wild Wonders of Europe’ Deinet, S., Böhm, M., McRae, L., Price, V., Duncan, C., Offord, S. and Collen, B., (2013), ‘Wildlife Comeback in Europe: An overview of changes in abundance and distribution of selected wildlife species in Europe for the period 1960-2010’. London Zoological Society and BirdLife International. Rewilding Europe, (2013). Annual review. Rewilding Europe, (2012). ‘Making Europe a Wilder Place’, folder. Stichting Taurus & Rewilding Europe, (2012). ‘The Tauros Programme. Towards the comeback of a European Icon’. Fact sheet. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (2012). ‘National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife Associated Recreation 2011’-A National Overview.
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About the authors Ronald Goderie, an ecologist and grazing expert from the Nether lands, founder and director of the Taurus foundation, co-owner of a herd of approximately 800 cattle and initiator of the Tauros Programme. Ecological consultant in the Netherlands and Belgium since 1998, carrying out ecological surveys and working on Natura 2000.
Thank you all! This book is dedicated to anyone who is fascinated with somehow bringing the amazing aurochs back and into the wild in Europe, and to those who have decided to actually do something about it. We would like to take the time here to thank you all at once. We would like to sincerely thank the following funding organisations. Without you, we would not have been able to run the Tauros Programme, nor publish this book. We look forward to working with you for many more years in the future! • The Dutch Postcode Lottery
Wouter Helmer, a visionary ecologist from the Netherlands with 25 years of experience in rewilding initiatives, who tends to see opportunities where others see problems. Co-founder of the Rewilding Europe initiative and also founder and the managing director of ARK Nature. Honorary Lector at Van Hall Larenstein, University of Applied Sciences.
Henri Kerkdijk-Otten, a Dutch historian, specialised in archeo zoology, especially the facts concerning Europe's original mega-fauna such as the aurochs, wild horse and water buffalo and the possible reconstruction of them. He grew up on a cattle farm, is the founder of the Megafauna Foundation, of which he is also chairman, and has by his cooperation given a boost to the Tauros Programme.
Staffan Widstrand, an awardwinning wildlife photographer and writer from Sweden. Co-founder of the Rewilding Europe initiative, author of 15 books and managing director of the Wild Wonders of Europe mass communication initiative. He has also worked within nature-based tourism for over 15 years, on all continents.
Previous spread: a young wild bull of an ancient breed in the Letea reserve in the Danube delta. It has some of the aurochs’ characteristics: black coat colour, white muzzle, long legs and the whitish so-called eel stripe along the spine.
• The Swedish Postcode Lottery • The Liberty Wildlife Fund When it comes to the Netherlands, our special thanks go out to Geert van den Akker and Karin Timmers for their care for the animals; to Marleen Felius, Asst. Prof. Hans Lenstra, Dr Cis van Vuure, Prof. Johan van Arendonk, Asst. Prof. Richard Crooijmans, Dr Theo de Jong and Eur. Ing. Leo Linnartz for their contribution in the scientific committee; Peter van Geneijgen (Geneijgen Bos en Beest) for providing Sayagueasa animals; to Dr Hans Hurkmans and Chris Kuijpers for assisting in the breeding programme and providing us with crossbred animals; to Mr Ger v.d. Oetelaar for his effort to introduce the Tauros to the Province of Limburg in the Kempen~Broek area, to Mechtild Kets for her willingness to comment on the book and designing the Tauros scarf. In Spain, our special thanks go out to Dr Alfonso Luque Moya and Fernando Serano for providing us with Pajuna animals; to Dr Amalia Vidal Gorosquieta for providing us with Limia animals; Diego Benito and Carlos Sanchez for their cooperation in the Tauros Programme in Campanarios, Miquel Rafa Fornieles and Xavier Escute for cooperation in the Tauros Programme in Catalunya. Furthermore, a number of Spanish scientists have contributed to the Tauros Programme, we would like to mention Dr Grandal d’Anglade, Dr Azor Ortiz, Dr Molina, Mr Cañon, Mr Bartolomé Rodríguez, Manuel Zamora Soria and Dr Martín-Burriel. In Italy, our special thanks go out to Prof. Donato Mattesino and Dr Chiara Graziani for their cooperation in general and providing us with Maremmana primitivo animals. Furthermore, to Dr Giannetto Guerrini from ANABIC for providing us with Podolica material. In Portugal, our thanks go out to Gonçalo Appleton for all the work he did to provide us with Maronesa animals, to António Monteiro and João Quadrado for their cooperation in the Tauros Programme in Faia Brava and to Goncalo Figueira.
In Malta, our special thanks go out to Prof. Mark Brincat for his effort in back-breeding Maltese cattle and to Minister Evarist Bartolo, Mrs Andreina Fenech-Farrugia, Noel Azzopardi, Vincent Parnis for their cooperation in the Tauros Programme. In Croatia, our special thanks go out to Davor Krmpotic for his assistance to introduce the Tauros Programme in Croatia. In Ireland, our special thanks go out to Prof. Daniel Bradley for providing us with the 770k chip of Aurochs DNA. In the UK, our thanks go to Lawrence Alderson. In the US, our special thanks go out to Asst. Prof. Beth Shapiro (University of California) and John MacNamara (World Museum of Man). In conclusion, a great number of scientists helped us: Dr Balteanu (Romania), Dr S. Stojanovic (Serbia), Prof. K. Kume (Albania), Dr B. Markovic (Montenegro), Prof. Marsan (ECGDC), Prof. Ferretti (ECGDC). The Netherlands • University of Wageningen, Animal breeding and genomics centre. • Stichting Brabants Landschap • The European Cattle Genetic Diversity Consortium • University of Groningen • Provincial archaeological depots in the Netherlands: Naturalis, Ecomare, nature museums and natural history museums. Italy • ConSDABI (Prof. Matassino, Italy) • ANABIC (Italian meat cattle organisation, Italy) Spain • • • • • • • • •
University of Cordoba University of Coruna University of Zaragoza University of Madrid Fundación Naturaleza y Hombre Fundació Catalunya-La Pedrera Instituto Tecnológico Agrario Salamanca Pajuna Organisation Asociación para la recuperación del toro bravo de lidia jijón
Portugal • Associação Transumância e Natureza UK • British Rare Breed Trust Ireland • Trinity College Dublin USA • University of California • World Museum of Man • The WILD foundation who donated their logo design from the WILD10 World Wilderness Congress
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The Comeback of a European Icon The aurochs. Extinct. Everyone of us has heard its name, but very few of us know anything about it. Still, it was the most important animal throughout the history of mankind. Without it, nothing in our society would have been the same. However, one could also say that the aurochs is still here. Yes, its wild form went extinct back in 1627, but its genes are still very much alive. Could we bring it back somehow? The aurochs was also one of the most important animals for the European ecosystems, a ‘keystone species’, as ecologists say. Now, an initiative called the Tauros Programme is well underway, with the aim to breed back an animal that will be as close as technically possible to the original aurochs, by using some of the most ancient cattle breeds that are still around. And then letting it go wild. The authors all have decades of experience working with Europe’s natural heritage. Here they tell us the full story about the legendary aurochs, lavishly illustrated with striking photos by several of Europe’s best nature photographers, and evocative drawings by some of Europe’s most gifted wildlife artists.
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