The Aurochs

"The ancestor of all domestic cattle its likeness is drawn in the cave paintings in Lascaux, France. It ranged from Africa to the Middle East to India and Europe. Its domestication occurred either in 6000 BC in the Fertile Crescent or 2000 years earlier in the once lush plains of the eastern Sahara. It was a “fearsome horned creature that could grow to be six feet tall” and could weigh over 2000 pounds. Hunting, competition with domestic cattle for food, and disease helped to push this animal to extinction. The last female of its kind died in Poland in 1627."

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Support conservation efforts of back-breeding ancient cattle breeds to revitalize the population of lost aurochs.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Visit:

• Tauros Foundation– a Dutch organization that aims to bring back the aurochs as a functional wild animal, by back-breeding the closest relatives of the original aurochs.

• Wageningen University & European Cattle Genetic Diversity Consortium– created a breeding program in 2009 and are continuing research of ancient aurochs DNA to compare with DNA of European cattle breeds.