Recently I did another artwork for the Indian aurochs or wild zebu. I think this new artwork is the most accurate for this subspecies I have done so far.
As to the body, I was unable to find any information on the postcranial anatomy of B. p. namadicus. But it is very likely that it had a standard wild cattle anatomy, such as a short trunk, long legs and a hump formed by tall processus spinosi. I speculate that the dewlap of the wild zebu was longer than in the European aurochs B. p. primigenius, because of thermoregulation and its possible display function. The ear shape is based on zebus. And it is not unlikely that it lacked the curly hair between the horns that the European aurochs had, since tropical bovids usually do not have hairy ornaments and no zebu has curly hair on the forehead. The colour is speculation, for this artwork I assumed that it had the same colour as the European aurochs.
It is not totally impossible that the Indian aurochs or wild zebu had a zebuine hump made of muscles and fat just like zebus. There are no osteological correlates between the zebuine hump and the skeleton, so that we cannot deduce its presence or absence based on the bones. Furthermore, there are no artistic depictions of B. p. namadicus that could provide a clue. For this artwork, I assumed that it did not have a fleshy zebuine hump.
Hi Daniel,
ReplyDeleteNot related to your current post but wondered what your opinion was on the ethics of breeding-back? Domesticated animals may not have behaviours allowing them to live in the wild especially with predation. Aurochs type cattle may fair well but there are many reports of feral horses being predated by carnivores and their populations declining. Is the welfare of animals in the wild considered in the current projects?
My position on the "ethics" of using domestic animals as proxy for their wildtype is rather clear. Wild animals starve, die of thirst, get lacerated by predators, they die of diseases and injuries, they die during winter et cetera. That's natural and nobody has a problem with that. The same goes for domestic animals in they wild, they will die the same deaths. Domestic animals have the behaviours allowing them to live in the wild, as numerous feral populations of many domestic species prove. Also with predators. Of course populations shrink in number when there is predation pressure, that's natural and goes for wild prey species as well. See the Lotka-Volterra rules.
DeleteCurrently it is unfortunally not legal to start a true dedomestication project in Germany, I don't know how they did it in the Oostvaardersplassen (legally).
I was interested to know whether "de-domesticated" animals are able to adapt to predators and if some breeds are better than others as I couldn't find much information on it, particularly in European rewilding projects. Are domesticated cattle breeds more prone to predation or do they have inherent behaviours analogous to those of wild bovine species? Are Heck or Tauros cattle better adapted?Domestic horses seem to fair less well, though I read a recent article which suggested reintroduced Przewalski horses have higher predation rates of foals by wolves near forested areas, so perhaps wild horses need grassland steppes etc. Apologies for mentioning ethics.
DeleteDomestic cattle have the necessary instincts to defend themselves against predators, f.e. it is known from Heck cattle that they form defensive circles around their foals and cows will attack if they consider their calves threatened. Of course some breeds can defend themselves more succesfully than others, f.e. hornless cattle and small cattle are in a disadvantage compared to horned and large cattle. Here is also where "breeding-back" is important.
DeleteThat with the predation rates of Przewalski horses in forested areas sounds interesting, do you have a link or name of the study perhaps?
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Deletehttps://przewalskihorse.nl/unique-but-why/wolves/
Deletehttp://biblio.naturalsciences.be/associated_publications/bjz/143-2/bjz_143_2-complete.pdf
Second ref gives information about horses living in forested environments
I’m not Daniel, but I’d still like to give my two-cents on the subject. Yes, domesticated animals are rarely if ever able to survive in the wild with predators. However, that is one of the goals of breeding-back. Wild bovines are capable of defending themselves and/or being able to replace their numbers, and the Auroch was no different. I don’t believe that predation is a factor in any of the breeding-back projects, so it isn’t unethical at this moment at least. We must see whether or not they can coexist with wolves and big cats as a sustainable wild prey species, but that is the goal.
ReplyDeleteThat would make a very interesting and informative blog post.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'd like to say that the fitness into the wild of domestic cattle could be worst in some degree if compared to that of the wild auroch, but it is to be verified, and not always the same: a lot is depending on the breed, type of farming and other factors.
ReplyDeleteIn central and south Italy Podolica and Maremmana cattle are commonly farmed extensively across fields and woods with thin or absent fences, and they often faces wolfs, as horses and donkeys do, and it don't often end up with a kill, mainly on calf. I think the same about iberian extensive breeding.
I'm not able now to link any study or videos, but I think they are easy to find, there are many examples of feral cattle managing well into the wild, even against predator; I think it's all matter about "how well" when compared to a given standard and "how long" in time such population can thrive.
Concerning the law, I know that im Bulgaria they are trying to legally frame konik horses wild population as "wild" animal, with no responsibility by any owner.
An interesting breed is certainly the Caucasian zebu (https://www.zootier-lexikon.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=7099:hausrind-zebu-watussi&Itemid=265). It can be found in the Friedrichsfelde Zoo in Berlin.
ReplyDeleteOn the question of the influence of large carnivores:
ReplyDeleteThe fact that comparatively low-domesticated cattle can adapt to large carnivores under natural conditions was observed in a rewilding project in the Rhodope Mountains:
https://grazelife.com/blog/herbivore-societies/
In addition to the defensibility of the individual animals, herd behaviour is of particular importance. Adaptation to carnivores requires a collective learning process of the herd.There is much to be said for using breeds that still have suitable individual and herd behaviour for such projects (Camargue or Betizu cattle, but also some other breeds from Iberia or the Balkan region). However, this could conflict with the breeding objective of cattle suitable for our native grazing projects. Daniel Foidl had rightly pointed this out elsewhere.
Thank you. That basically answered my question as I couldn't find any literature on it. The grazelife article was interesting and I hope their findings can be proved.
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