The past 10 years in "breeding-back"

I have been researching on the aurochs, wild horse and “breeding-back” for exactly ten years now. It was in 2011, when I worked on a drawing of Europe’s large mammals that I looked at the Wikipedia page in order to get some knowledge on the aurochs’ physical appearance. I had been aware of “breeding-back” previously, but did not pay much attention to it. The photograph of the Heck bull “Ari” from the Wörth/Steinberg lineage immediately created my fascination for this subject. 

This was in a time when Heck cattle had a kind of monopoly for being an aurochs-like cattle breed, as the primitive landraces from Southern Europe were barely known outside the Iberian peninsular. But I learned of these breeds quite early because I joined the aurochs thread in the old Carnivora Forum, where a lot of photos of primitive Iberian breeds were shared. In the same year, I visited the Hellabrunn Zoo in Munich, which is where modern Heck cattle originated. The Hellabrunn Heck cattle herd is remarkable for its perfectly aurochs-like colour with a good sexual dimorphism. Being aware of the fact that Heck cattle is only one of many aurochs-like breeds, I enjoyed seeing living cattle with the colouration of an actually extinct animal very much. Thanks to the Carnivora thread, I also learned about the Tauros Project (today: Tauros Programme), which had only one crossbred individual at that time that was actually still a calf (the bull Manolo Uno). There also was barely any information on Taurus cattle on the web, with only two PDFs showing first-generation crosses at young age. I had no idea that by that time, animals like the bull Lamarck were thriving in the Lippeaue reserve. So there was Heck cattle, by many considered to be the only aurochs-like breed, Taurus cattle which were pretty much incognito back this time and the Tauros Project which only had one calf. 

I felt that the monopoly of Heck cattle was unjustified, and the Wikipedia articles in German and English were pretty “pro-Heck cattle” back this time, with little well-grounded information and unempirical claims. The Wikipedia article on the aurochs was not satisfying either, with some inaccuracies and no precise information on the aurochs’ physical appearance. And it was extremely difficult to find information and photos of the primitive Southern European breeds. So I started to rewrite the Heck cattle and aurochs articles in both the German and English Wikipedia, mainly using Cis van Vuure’s 2005 work as a reference. Also, I created Wikipedia articles for some of the primitive European aurochs-like landraces, with photos, because I thought this would be the most effective way to make the knowledge on these valuable breeds more accessible to a larger-scale audience. Also, I thought that by precisely describing the aurochs’ physical characteristics on Wikipedia that the differences between Heck cattle and the aurochs would become apparent. 

In 2013, I started the Breeding-back Blog. Back this time, there were not many people interested in the aurochs and “breeding-back” on the web. There was the Carnivora thread, which was mainly attended by four or five users on a regular basis. In the following years, the situation began to change. 

 

For once, “breeding-back” itself began to grow. The Tauros Project expanded to multiple countries and acquired quantity quite fast, and a new project, the Auerrind project came into existence. Taurus cattle finally found their way into the internet, also because – excuse my self-praise here – I went to the Lippeaue reserve several times and covered them on my blog, with many photos (now Taurus cattle also have a very good web presence on the webpage of the ABU). Also, the number of rewilding projects increased, and both practices got considerable media-coverage (compared to the years before 2011). And the number of people interested in “breeding-back” and the aurochs and also of course rewilding multiplied and multiplied. 

I see that every time I look at my blog’s statistics. My blog has a total of more than 900.000 clicks, with 200-400 clicks per day, some posts have over 1000 clicks and it has 2000 comments in sum (a big thanks to all my readers by the way!). I would have never expected this to happen, as “breeding-back” and the aurochs is a very small niche, so to say. But the number of people interested in this subject is constantly increasing. I see a lot of people who are not only interested in the aurochs, but also know a lot about this subject. They precisely know what an aurochs looked like, know all the projects and special herds/lineages in great detail. Also, the primitive aurochs-like breeds are now well-known to a lot of people. Back in 2011, all of this was not the case. 

I think that of all the animals killed off by mankind in historical times, the aurochs is perhaps the species that currently gets the most attention. The Thylacine also has a huge fan club (a fan club that also has a longer history), but I get the feeling that the “aurochs fan community” got ahead of that of the Thylacine. The mere fact that there is such a community now is worth noticing, because it did not exist back in 2011. 

 

Why did that change so dramatically? I think this has two main reasons: a) there are now more “breeding-back” projects than back then, with a lot more animals and also media-coverage b) the information on “breeding-back” and the aurochs is now easily accessible. The Wikipedia articles are pretty good (I just initiated the changes, a lot of people have helped to progress the pages since 2011), you can easily learn about the life appearance and biology of the aurochs, learn about the primitive aurochs-like breeds and learn about the “breeding-back” projects on the web. I hope that my blog contributes to that as well. 

 

The fact that people are increasingly aware of the anatomy and biology of the aurochs also has a kind of positive feedback effect on “breeding-back”. I get the impression that Heck cattle has slowly increased in quality during the last 10 years because breeders are increasingly aware of the anatomy of the aurochs. The slow process of improvement is not true for all Heck herds, but for some. Also, Heck cattle lost its monopoly on being “the” aurochs-like breed. This was necessary to seize the potential we have in modern day cattle. 

While the myth that Heck cattle are “recreated aurochs” is a thing of the past now, the acceptance of the myths concerning the European wild horse and its purported descendants has not changed yet. Still a lot of people believe the “the Konik is the Tarpan descendant” myth, the Sorraia myth and the Exmoor pony myth (go here for a review of these stories). These stories sometimes are even repeated in technical, peer-reviewed papers, which is concerning. But maybe this might change in the future, as fact-based information on these three breeds and on the European wild horse are at least available in the internet now. 

 

I think that we live in the prime time of “breeding-back” today. There are several projects, people now are aware of the anatomy of the aurochs and of suitable breeds (which was not the case, f.e., when the Heck brothers did their breeding experiments) and they have more attention than ever since there is a large number of people interested in this subject. “Breeding-back” already has produced a number of great animals, and there will be much more in the future. I am looking forward to that, and I am also looking forward to cover them on my blog as I always try to do.