Scientists plan to resurrect aurochs, wild ancestor of modern cows with back-breeding

[Elmore Furth]

This ought to make the running of the bulls in Pamplona a lot more sporting. A 6 foot tall, 2000 pound bovine built like a bison should make an imposing spectacle.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1961918,00.html

"They are a little below the elephant in size and… their strength and speed are extraordinary. They spare neither man nor wild beast which they have espied." Thus Julius Caesar described the aurochs, an ancient ancestor of domestic cattle which inhabited much of Europe before being wiped out hundreds of years ago.

Today, the only evidence we have for the existence of these great bovines, which stood more than 2m high and weighed more than a tonne, are a few skeletons in museums and several dramatic cave paintings made by Cro-Magnon people tens of thousands of years ago. The latter show how these giant creatures – which had giant forward-facing horns and a white stripe down their spines – dominated the landscape and the imaginations of early human beings.

But now scientists are attempting to turn back the clock – by resurrecting the aurochs. A European project has been set up to bring these wild ancestors of modern domestic cattle back from the dead, though the scientists involved stress this will be achieved not by cloning them from ancient DNA, but by crossing existing breeds.

"Basically, it was a big cow – nearly 2m high at the shoulder, and built vaguely like the love child of the Spanish fighting bull with a dash of Highland cow thrown in to make it hardier," says researcher Magdalena Michalak of Bryn Mawr college, Pennsylvania. By taking DNA from these breeds and others, and by examining the ancient DNA of aurochs, preserved in their bones, researchers aim to pinpoint promising species of modern cattle which carry aurochs genes and which can be bred selectively to reproduce an aurochs, a process known as back-breeding.



The aurochs: due for a comeback?

[EmilyKent]

1. Whatever for?

[DJ13]

2. Meat?

[laconicsax]

3. From the article:

Stichting Taurus, the Dutch preservationist group leading the project, is hoping a reborn aurochs could help restore the European countryside to a more natural state. To that end, the group would eventually like to replace the domesticated cattle that currently graze in Holland's nature reserves with the recreated wild cattle. "The aurochs was part of an ecosystem," says Henri Kerkdijk, manager of the project. "If you want to recreate the flora of the ecosystem, you also have to recreate the fauna." The idea came to Kerkdijk during a trip to Africa, where he was struck by the abundance of giant herbivores, even in areas where people were living. "It just bothered me that we don't have that in Europe anymore," he says. His group has already introduced English Exmoor ponies — the closest living representatives of the wild horses painted alongside aurochs on cave walls — to the Netherlands' nature reserves. "You could also talk about recreating the giant deer," Kerkdijk says. "But there, we don't have a modern animal to work from."

[EmilyKent]

12. Lunacy.

[frogmarch]

33. He sounds like

the guy who wanted to introduce lion, tigers and elephants to the "wilds" of Great Plains of the U.S. Pure craziness.

[Webster Green]

5. Just to see if they can do it.

That's how scientists get their rocks off.

I think this is pretty cool. It's selective breeding.

[TZ]

14. Just to see if they can do it?

Sorry, I've hung out with scientists my whole adult life and NONE OF THEM has ever done something just because they can..Thats a Michael Crieghton inspired myth. Whenever a scientist does something they have to them a very good reason for doing it..You might not agree or understand it, but they do. I hate this "because they can' nonsense.

[Webster Green]

16. I've hung out with scientists too.

Scientists love to push the envelope. You're just looking for something to pick at.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[laconicsax]

26. I guess you can dish it out but can't take it.

:hi:

[Name removed]

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[laconicsax]

32. There you go again.

You're making a statement about scientists that is not only a broad-brush attack, but is false.

If you'd like to prove that scientists get off on "pushing the envelope," go right ahead. You made a claim, it's on you to substantiate it.

So far you've only said that you know scientists and it's what they do, and that anyone who disagrees is "fucking nuts."

Well, I know some Bob Marley fans who have trouble separating fiction from reality and who also live to smoke weed. By your own standards, I am justified in saying that Marley fans can't distinguish fiction from reality and are stoned out of their gourds. Anyone who disagrees is fucking nuts.

If that pisses you off (which I suspect it does as evidenced by your response), then you're being a hypocrite.

BTW...Try highlighting the area between the first and last lines in my comment about Marley fans. It may prove illuminating.

[Mopar151]

15. It is not that remote

I've seen some huge beasts at ox-pulling contests - some over 6'tall at the shoulder. went looking for a pic - found this:

[laconicsax]

18. What scientists, where?

The article clearly states that this is part of an ecosystem restoration project, it isn't a case of trying to get their rocks off. Would you care to substantiate your claim with actual evidence?

[Name removed]

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[laconicsax]

27. If you're not willing to be civil, that's your problem.

If your assertion is true, you should be able to prove it. No need to get nasty.

[Name removed]

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[laconicsax]

31. Temper, temper.

You made a claim, I asked you to back it up. That's hardly trolling.

I think your problem is that you're a grade "A" hypocrite. You have no problem making broad-brush statements about "scientists," (as though they're a monolithic group) but when someone makes a similar broad-brush statement about a group to which you belong, you lose it and can't be civil. Maybe I should accuse you of just looking for something to pick at.

I can back up my statements about Marley fans equally as well as you can back up yours about scientists.

[Posteritatis]

23. Read the article and find out instead of kneejerking from a headline. (nt)

[14thColony]

30. Partly in hopes they can restore balance to European forests

many of which are being overrun by birch trees. Few of today's animals feed on birch, but there's a lot of evidence that aurochs did. When they went away, the birch started to grow out of control. Kinda like the way deer have overrun the parts of the US that are now devoid of wolves.

[tularetom]

4. What could possibly go wrong?

[orestes]

6. I, for one,

welcome our future bovine overlords.

[BlueJazz]

7. :) :)

:) :)

[jtuck004]

8. Scientists Belatedly Discover Methane From Ancient Cows Responsible for Killing All Life On......n/t

[InvisibleTouch]

9. Very cool!

Modern cattle being the descendants, I guess they still have some of those original genes. If they can be distilled through selective breeding, I'd love to see the result!

I'm still waiting on the woolly mammoth resurrection too. They've been working on that one for decades, and they do have good DNA samples from frozen tissue.

If they can bring back a species that's been extinct for tens of thousands of years, maybe there's hope for today's vanishing wildlife as well.

[Kali]

11. aurochs have only been extinct a couple hundred years

[Posteritatis]

22. The year 1627, to be exact. (nt)

[jobycom]

10. These guys do not watch enough sci fi.

[pansypoo53219]

13. butbutbut what about quaggas?

nt

[Wolf Frankula]

17. I thought somebody had done that in the 30s.

There's a herd of them in Germany or Poland IIRC.

Wolf

[Posteritatis]

21. People started trying to around then, with mixed success. (nt)

[hunter]

20. I hope they have an irrational hatred of automobiles.

Watching one go on a rampage destroying cars... how cool would that be?