Lake Pape - Aurochs
Other large herbivores - Aurochs
The auroch is the ancestor of the European breeds of domestic cattle. At its maximum extent, the auroch was found in Southern and Central Europe, North Africa, parts of the Middle East and across Asia as least as far east as India. It became extinct due to over-hunting. The very last aurochs died in Poland in 1627.
In 1920 two German brothers, Heinz and Lutz Heck set out to "re-create" the aurochs by back-breeding domestic cattle from the Camargue, Corsica, Spain and Great Britain, which had aurochs-like qualities.
Heinz worked at the Hellabrunn Zoological Gardens in Munich, and Lutz worked in Berlin, starting with slightly different stock but producing similar results. While the Berlin breed failed, the Hellabrunn breed is still around.
"Recreated aurochs" vs. Wild aurochs
The "recreated aurochs" has distinctly aurochs-like characteristics, and bears a physical resemblance to what is known about the wild aurochs. The major difference is in size: a recreated aurochs bull is not much larger than the bull of most breeds of domestic cattle, while wild aurochs bulls are believed to have often exceeded 1 tonne, half the size of a rhinoceros.
About the species
The aurochs has a dark coat with a light stripe down the spine. It has long lyre-shaped horns. The aurochs grazes and browses on grass, and also eats buds, young leaves, branches, and some kinds of bark.
