Skeletal sketch of a Tauros cattle bull

Grazelands Rewilding posted this Tauros cattle bull on their Instagram page a while ago. I strongly suspect that this individual is heavily influenced by Maremmana and most likely also Sayaguesa, perhaps it even is simply a Sayaguesa x Maremmana cross. I love clear shots in profile because they are excellent to judge the animals’ anatomy. I used the photo to try to infer the skeleton from the living animal, which is actually quite feasible with domestic cattle, because often you can see the joints of the limb elements, the shoulder blade and the pelvis under the skin of the living animal.

This is the result:

 

The ratio of the trunk length (from the first thoracic vertebra to the posterior end of the pelvis) to shoulder height (from the ground to the upper end of the upper margin of the bony part of the scapula) is 1:1,23 (shoulder height : trunk length). This is well outside the range of the aurochs skeletons I have examined to far, ranging from 1:1,06 (Prejlerup skeleton) and 1:1,19 (Cambridge). This means that the trunk is longer in this Tauros cattle bull than in what we find in the aurochs, which is not unusual at all for domestic cattle – quite the contrary, even in “breeding-back” cattle. 

 

I also have photos of Taurus and Heck cattle in a nice clear profile; I will do sketches of their skeletons and compare it to those of the Tauros cattle bull.  

 

 

Using AI for aurochs reconstructions

AI generated images are not my taste at all, but I have been experimenting with ChatGPT lately. Precisely, I used it on my aurochs reconstructions with the prompt “make it photorealistic”. The results were not always perfect, but some are quite good I think. The AI tends to make the trunk longer and the legs shorter, which is probably because of the cattle photos it was trained with, so I had to correct some of the results for the proportions, but not all. Today I want to share some of the results. Note that I neither claim AI generated images are "art" nor that I acclaim any copyright to these results. I merely attempt to create the perfect aurochs reconstruction. 

 

-) based on my Vig aurochs painting

Readers of my book "Breeding-back wild beasts" will know my painting of the Vig bull. I uploaded it to GPT and prompted it to make it photorealistic. As you see, it made the proportions a bit more domestic and I had to restore the dorsal stripe, but overall I think the result is ok.

-) turning Lamarck into an aurochs

I modified a photo of the Taurus bull Lamarck from 2013 and gave it more aurochs-like horns plus the curly hair on the forehead, then I prompted GPT to make it photorealistic. The result is quite good I think, although I am not 100% satisfied with the horns.

 

-) the “Augsburg aurochs” scenery

I did a painting with acrylics that is supposed to reconstruct the oil-based original of C.H. Smith’s “Augsburg aurochs”, with the landscape based on the 19^th century one. Smith reported the original showed a sooty black colour with a white chin and coarse hair. I uploaded the painting to GPT and prompted it to make it photorealistic, and I think the result is really, really good. It looks a lot like I imagine a European aurochs bull to look like, and captures the “Augsburg” essence well.

 

-) painting of the Stuttgart skull

The skull exhibited at the Stuttgart museum am Löwentor is a very interesting one, as it has quite wide-ranging, almost banana-like horns. I did a 3D reconstruction of those horn cores and sculpted a sheath over them, so that I have an idea what they might have looked in life. I used them as template for a painting, and uploaded the painting to GPT with the usual prompt. I really like the result, I think it gives a good impression of what that skull might have looked like in life.

 

-) Store-damme bull with Holstein bulls as a template

This is based on a sketch of the Store-damme skeleton that I reconstructed in flesh and blood looking at Holstein bulls – whether this breed is the best comparison is very debatable, I was just curious on what it would look like. Then I uploaded it to GPT with the prompt “paint it photorealistical like a Sayaguesa bull” because when I prompt it using the word aurochs it often results in bulls with a colour saddle.

 

-) Store-damme bull with young Lidia/Sayaguesa as a template

This is a sketch from a little animation I did a while ago with the same prompt as above. I am very satisfied with this one, I think the result looks very realistic and is also very aesthetically appealing to me.