tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1222590081823739642.post7076916692967223621..comments2024-03-28T07:28:58.459-07:00Comments on The Breeding-back Blog: The skulls of two Taurus bullsDaniel Foidlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02924677790606716751noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1222590081823739642.post-19637366028064490502014-08-30T04:58:09.516-07:002014-08-30T04:58:09.516-07:00Hi, first of all, thanks for all the comments! Agg...Hi, first of all, thanks for all the comments! Aggressive cattle are selected out for purely pragmatic reasons: They have to handle the animals, and such nervous and aggressive ones are extremely difficult and dangerous to handle. Actually there is a considerable chance that people can be killed when such a bull runs wild - all cattle living under free conditions get more shy, nervous or aggressive, but those with Lidia-ancestry in particular. <br />But cattle behaviour is very plastic and environment-dependent. If you release any population of very docile animals into the wild, they will soon return to a wild animal behaviour that probably was very similar to that of the aurochs. Horses not so much, tameness is much more fixated by their genetics. <br />Daniel Foidlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02924677790606716751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1222590081823739642.post-51244235393154858292014-08-29T21:41:24.583-07:002014-08-29T21:41:24.583-07:00Sorry for this delayed comment. I find this subjec...Sorry for this delayed comment. I find this subject quite fascinating. Please note that my following questions arise out of great curiosity and interest as a complete amateur, not out of any wish to argue. I was struck in this post by the comment that the bull Latino was culled (?) because of his "nervous and aggressive" temperament. A nervous and aggressive bull is surely more of a wild-type temperament than a more docile animal, is it not? <br />Is the intention in breeding-back European horses/cattle to create a "park" animal which resembles the ancestral wild species physically but can be handled and is not especially dangerous? I suppose that would be the realistic approach in the European context, I have to admit I'm spoiled as I live in Canada where we fortunately have not exterminated our native megafauna, and we retain immense tracts of wild or near-wild lands. :-) Anyway - If there is any intention to recover a semi-wild temperament, have very many people in the rewilding projects worked with both domestic horses and takhis or zebras, for example? (I haven't done that, but I know both dogs and wolves first hand... there are profound behavioural differences between domestic and never-domesticated species which are best appreciated at first hand :-)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18049195006362906289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1222590081823739642.post-72257300864761489062013-12-22T07:39:52.458-08:002013-12-22T07:39:52.458-08:00I don't know if this photo of an aurochs skull...I don't know if this photo of an aurochs skull measurement is of any use to you.I know you seen it before.<br />http://www.ahobproject.org/Picture_Library/transition/Full_Size/Ilford%20Bos.jpgavengerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07336474827528124668noreply@blogger.com