Holy cow! Boffins making a new one

AT THE height of the Roman Empire, herds of wild cattle roamed Europe.

Among them were bison, cousins of the iconic Wild West species.

The European bison has survived but another hoofed animal, the auroch, has not.

This huge beast was hunted for its meat and skin. By 1584, according to one survey, only 38 were left. The last one died, of natural causes, at Jaktorow Forest in Poland, in 1627.

Despite its disappearance, the auroch has become the most successful large animal of all time; its descendants are found throughout the world today. There are estimated to be 1.3bn of them. We can’t bring Bos primigenius, ‘the original cow’, back from the dead but, according to a report on the Wildlife News Extra website, a look-alike of the auroch may soon be roaming the nature reserves of Europe.

Sigimund von Herberstein, a 16th century diplomat, recorded the word ‘tsar’ as ‘czar’, creating spelling confusion ever since. He also left us a drawing of the auroch. Reconstructions have been made from skeletons. I remember seeing a particularly fine display at the National Museum in Copenhagen. Bulls weighed up to a tonne and were reputed to be very aggressive. Almost two metres high and with long horns, they could see off wolves, although calves and sick individuals were vulnerable. These herbivores lived around marshes and swamp forests. They may also have ventured onto grassland. There were some in Britain up to 3,000 years ago, but remains have not been found in Ireland.

Aurochs, it is thought, were domesticated in Turkey at the end of the last Ice Age. The word ‘cattle’ is related to ‘chattel’. Of French origin, it meant moveable property, as in ‘goods and chattels’; early herders were nomadic pastoralists. Over the centuries, breeds as different as the highland cow, the friesian and the Spanish fighting bull have been created to suit local conditions. There has been some cross-breeding with closely related species but the experts believe that genes for characteristics peculiar to the original ancestor are still in the DNA of modern domestic stock. If these can be identified and brought together in a single animal by selective breeding, the auroch might be resurrected.

Lutz Heck was director of Berlin Zoo during the 1920s and 30s. His brother Heinz worked at Munich Zoo. Interbreeding different cattle strains, they managed to produce animals at the two institutions which, they claimed, were similar to the auroch. The project was supported by the Nazis for propaganda purposes; it resonated with their delusions of Aryan racial purity.

Hermann Göring kept ‘Heck cattle’ on his estate at Romenten, a former hunting ground of the Kaisers on the border between Russia and Poland. Claims by the Heck brothers that the auroch had been resurrected were accepted initially. Herds were established in zoos and in the wild. There are about 2,000 Heck cattle alive today. The recreated animals, however, differ in most respects from the auroch. They are much smaller, stockier and have shorter legs. Their horns aren’t lyre-shaped like those of the ancestor. Heck cattle, in fact, resemble the auroch only in their colouring.

The resources available during the 1920s and 30s were inadequate to the task the Heck brothers had set themselves. Now, with advances in knowledge and new genetic technology, the revival of the ancient beast, or the creation of one closely resembling it, is a real possibility.

Two years ago, Italian scientists extracted auroch DNA from bones. They claim to have developed a rough map of the animal’s genome. Groups such as Tauros Foundation, supported by the European Centre for Biodiversity, are determined to revive the primordial beast.

Since 2008, ancient cattle breeds have been studied to identify characteristics which were present in the original animal. Of 30 modern breeds examined, six appear to have relevant features. Interbreeding experiments commenced in 2009.

Animals are being produced which, it’s claimed, increasingly resemble the original beast. A bull with the colouring of the primordial ancestor, black with a pale ‘eel stripe’ running down the spine, already exists. Semi-wild herds will be established in the mountains of the Czech Republic.

It is hoped that, by 2025 aurochs, or at any rate a creature closely resembling them, will be living wild in Europe once again. If this project succeeds, will the woolly mammoth be next on the list for revival?