Auroch revival and rewilding Europe: good idea or no?

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Scientists are trying to breed something resembling an auroch from cattle. They say that the auroch genome is buried in the cattle genome and they are trying to unlock it. A group of conservationists is preparing a series of parks for release of aurochs.

Is this likely to be a good idea ecologically? I'd be interested in hearing the opinions of our European Zoochatters. Has anybody visited any of the parks that are being prepared for "rewilding"?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...ore-top-stories_aurochs-1015pm:homepage/story
 
I was reading through that article and then came to this photo caption:
The Heck cattle were created by Nazi geneticists to bring back to life the extinct aurochs, a legendary breed believed to be the size of a rhino.
Click to expand...
 
I'm quite bullish on European rewilding. Unlike much of the world, Europe is has largely moved through the habitat loss phase and what (little) remains is likely to do so. So I definitely think it's possible.
The usual objection is that conservation money would be better spent elsewhere, especially when it is a 'resurrection' type project. I think this position misunderstands how money and charitable giving works. There is no big pot that is drawn from; it's rarely a zero sum game. If anything, the potential goodwill and public interest could raise more money in a positive feedback style loop.
Clearly rewilding needs to be done incredibly slowly and carefully at first; the potential for any number of things to go wrong is obvious. But the benefits of the success of these kinds of projects are also obvious.
 
Hi David,

this isn't a novel topic in Europe, in particular the Netherlands and Germany. Heck / TaurOs cattle and / or redomesticated / "primitive" horse breeds like the Konik, the Heck "Tarpan" or the Dülmen pony, as well as wisents and randomly also the takhi have already been introduced in several Dutch / German natural preserves, such as Oostvaardersplassen or the Cuxhavener Küstenheiden, but also in other parts of Europe, like the infamous Chernobyl in the Ukraine or the Hortobágyi National Park in Hungary.
The results have varied in their success, depending on the federal and local stakeholders and external factors such as the spread of Bluetongue disease (and in the case of Chernobyl, radiation), but most projects are still ongoing.

This lengthy German thread (hopefully available to external viewers) illustrates the pro's and cons of the TaurOs project as well as potential alternative options.
Kryptozoologie-Online • Thema anzeigen - TaurOs Project/der Auerochse

As for the passage Chli quotes: British newspapers in particular seem to have a morbid, if not to say obsessive lust for anything even remotely connected to the Nazi regime, leading to said "slightly" exaggerated descriptions resembling Hellboy comics, or sublime tabloid headlines such as the following
Nazi super cows: British farmer forced to destroy half his murderous herd of bio-engineered Heck cows after they try to kill staff | Environment | The Independent

The only true bit in that article: yes, Heck cattle meat is quite tasty.

None of the Heck brothers was a "geneticist", but rather opportunistic zoo directors.
Lutz Heck was on friendly terms with Hermann Göring, and their father, famous Berlin zoo director Ludwig Heck, was heavily involved in several scientific projects of the Nazis (yet none that planned to create rhino-sized aurochs to invade GB). Heinz Heck (who gave the bonobo its current name, introducted the "geozoo" concept and supported the ex-situ breeding of the wisent and the takhi) officially kept his distance to the Nazis, and used this to his benefit when blackening Bernhard Grzimek after WWII for the latter's (also opportunistic) NSDAP membership-which initiated a decade-long feud within the German zoo director community. Lutz indirectly tried to shame Katharina Heinroth out of office to gain his position as director of Berlin Zoo back after the war. Therefore, as you can see: interesting backstory of not very charming personalities, but certainly no geneticists involved.
 
In many reserves in the Netherlands already large herbivores ( semi-wild living horses ( tarpans ) and primitive cattles races ( for example Scottish highlanders ) are kept freely to keep the landscape open. Lately even Wisents are released so I guess the Auroch would also be a good candidate for releasing into the ( semi ) wild.
 
The last aurochs died in 1627, the last tarpan probably in the 19th/early 20th century. Neither Heck nor Tauros cattle are real aurochs (just as the Heck “Tarpan“ or the Konik aren’t real tarpans), but more or less well done reconstructions that have already been introduced in European natural preserves (which you would know if you had read the previous posts...).
 
Batto said:
Lutz Heck was on friendly terms with Hermann Göring, and their father, famous Berlin zoo director Ludwig Heck, was heavily involved in several scientific projects of the Nazis (yet none that planned to create rhino-sized aurochs to invade GB). Heinz Heck (who gave the bonobo its current name, introducted the "geozoo" concept and supported the ex-situ breeding of the wisent and the takhi) officially kept his distance to the Nazis, and used this to his benefit when blackening Bernhard Grzimek after WWII for the latter's (also opportunistic) NSDAP membership-which initiated a decade-long feud within the German zoo director community. Lutz indirectly tried to shame Katharina Heinroth out of office to gain his position as director of Berlin Zoo back after the war. Therefore, as you can see: interesting backstory of not very charming personalities, but certainly no geneticists involved.
Click to expand...

The history of the Heck brothers and their relations with the Nazis, and with other zoo directors, is fascinating. Where is this information published?
 
This won't "resurrect" aurochs any more than a Mona Lisa poster is painted by Da Vinci. They might look similar, but that's as far as it goes. Since we already have ecological proxies with proven track records, I frankly don't see the point.

Rewilding, which seems to have been universally adopted by armchair environmentalists, is also far from without problems. That's particularly true for the proposal of "Pleistocene rewilding" in North America and Zimov's deeply flawed Siberian zoo.

@FunkyGibbon: I hope the "bullish" comment was intended ;)
 
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