Heck cattle
Encyclopedia
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
. They are the result of an attempt to breed back the aurochs
Aurochs
The aurochs , the ancestor of domestic cattle, were a type of large wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa, but is now extinct; it survived in Europe until 1627....
, which became extinct in 1627, from modern aurochs-derived cattle. Controversy as to success of the program and techniques used specifically revolve around genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
, behavior, biology and the still scientifically debated question of whether the aurochs has "returned" in any form whatsoever, or has been mimicked.
Development
Heck cattle were developed in the early 20th century by the Heck brothers in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in an attempt to breed back
Breeding back
Breeding back can be described as either a natural or a human attempt to assemble or re-assemble the genes of an extinct species, subspecies or domesticated breed, which may still be present in the larger gene pool of the overall species or those of multiple interbreedable species.Breeding back is...
modern cattle to their ancestral form, the aurochs
Aurochs
The aurochs , the ancestor of domestic cattle, were a type of large wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa, but is now extinct; it survived in Europe until 1627....
, Bos primigenius primigenius. Heinz Heck
Heinz Heck
Heinz Heck was a German biologist and director of zoo in Munich . Heck worked on the breeding back projects of the Heck Horse, which strove to recreate the Tarpan , and the Heck Cattle, which was to recreate the aurochs, both of which...
working at the Hellabrunn Zoological Gardens in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
began creating the Heck breed in about 1920. Lutz Heck
Lutz Heck
Ludwig George Heinrich Heck, called Lutz Heck was a German zoologist, animal researcher, an animal book author and director of the large zoo in the German capital city .Together with his brother Heinz Heck, also a zoologist and director of the largest zoological garden in southern...
, director of the Berlin Zoological Gardens, began extensive breeding programs supported by the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to bring back the aurochs.
The reconstructed aurochs fitted into the Nazi propaganda
Nazi propaganda
Propaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...
drive to create an idyllic history of the Aryan
Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...
nation.
Heinz Heck, in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, crossed Hungarian Grey Cattle
Hungarian Grey Cattle
Hungarian Grey Cattle or Hungarian Steppe Cattle are an old beef cattle breed from Hungary....
, Scottish Highland
Highland cattle
Highland cattle or kyloe are a Scottish breed of beef cattle with long horns and long wavy coats which are coloured black, brindled, red, yellow or dun....
, Murnau-Werdenfels
Murnau-Werdenfels Cattle
Murnau-Werdenfels Cattle are an old, robust dairy breed from Upper Bavaria, the southernmost part of Germany.The animals are brown-yellow, but there are great colour variations from straw-yellow to reddish brown. Hooves and horn tips are black. There is a white rim around a dark muzzle. They are...
, Angeln
Angeln cattle
Angeln cattle are a breed of cattle originally from Angeln in Schleswig-Holstein where they are first mentioned around 1600. Breed management has been practiced since 1830. Angeln cattle are red in color and were one of the founders of the larger Danish Red Cattle breed. They are noted for the high...
, German Friesian, Podolic cattle and Corsican breeds. In Berlin, his brother, Lutz Heck crossed Spanish and French fighting cattle
Fighting Cattle
The Spanish Fighting Bull is an Iberian cattle breed. It is primarily bred free-range on extensive estates in Southern Spain, Portugal and Latin American countries where bull fighting is organized...
with other breeds. The resulting animals’ configurations were largely similar. The Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
breed was lost in the aftermath of World War II so modern Heck cattle are descended from the Hellabrunn breed (Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
). At the end of the 20th century, other so-called primitive breeds were crossbred with Heck cattle to come closer to the aim of creating a cattle breed that resembles the extinct aurochs in external appearance.
Characteristics
A typical Heck bull should be at least 1.4 m (4'5") high and a cow 1.3 m (4'3"), with weight up to 600 kg (1,300 lb). Heck cattle are twenty to thirty centimeters shorter than the aurochs they were bred to resemble. However, cross-breeding efforts continue to increase the size and weight of the breed, particularly in Germany.The Heck bulls were not much larger than the bull of most breeds of domestic cattle, while wild aurochs bulls are believed to have often exceeded 1000 kilograms (2,200 lb), half the size of a rhinoceros
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....
. So the African Watusi cattle
Ankole-Watusi (cattle)
The Ankole-Watusi is a breed of cattle originally native to Africa. Its large, distinctive horns, that can reach up to from tip to tip, are used for defense. Ankole-Watusis weigh from . Living in the savannas and open grasslands, their diet consists of grass and leaves...
were then brought into the herd. The result was a somewhat larger animal, but it also caused infertility among the cows, a sign of the genetic divergence that had occurred between these populations of Bos over the millennia. Heck cattle were first bred outside of a zoo in 1980. There were 88 registered at that time. Continued crossbreeding with these animals resolved the infertility in the cows.
Distribution
There are about 2000 Heck cattle in Europe and few elsewhere.In Oostvaardersplassen
Oostvaardersplassen
The Oostvaardersplassen is a nature reserve in the Netherlands, covering about . Despite having developed recently it already has international importance as a European wetland....
in Flevoland
Flevoland
Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. Located in the centre of the country, at the location of the former Zuiderzee, the province was established on January 1, 1986; the twelfth province of the country, with Lelystad as its capital...
near Lelystad
Lelystad
Lelystad is a municipality and a city in the centre of the Netherlands, and it is the capital of the province of Flevoland. The city, built on reclaimed land, was founded in 1967 and was named after Cornelis Lely, who engineered the Afsluitdijk, making the reclamation possible...
(Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
), there are about 600 Heck cattle freely roaming without human interference. Other cattle are at the Falkenthaler Rieselfelder near Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. There are also Heck Cattle at the Nesseaue nature reserve near Jena
Jena
Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...
, Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
and at the Grubenfelder Leonie nature reseve in Auerbach
Auerbach in der Oberpfalz
Auerbach in der Oberpfalz is a town in the Amberg-Sulzbach district, Bavaria, Germany. It is located 45 km NE of Nuremberg. In Michelfeld there was a Benedictine monastery which is now a nursing home.-Districts:*Degelsdorf*Gunzendorf*Michelfeld...
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. There were about 100 registered in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in 2000. In 2009 nine cows and four bulls were imported to south west England from Belgium. Derek Gow, a British conservationist who operates a rare breeds farm on the Devonshire-Cornwall border, bought a herd of 13 Heck cattle in 2009.
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Controversy
Criticism of the methodology and result of the Heck brother's programs dates back to at least the 1950s. Cis van Vuure describes the work of W. Herre in 1953 and O. Koehler in 1952 who found: "A lack of basic knowledge about the extinct aurochs, broad selection criteria in the breeding-back experiment and the rich imagination and complacency of the two brothers led to their excessive simplification of the breeding-back procedure. Criticism also focused on the carelessness, the ease and the speed with which they had carried out their experiments as well as the genetic basis"Heck cattle are propagated in some places to fulfill the role of extinct megafauna
Megafauna
In terrestrial zoology, megafauna are "giant", "very large" or "large" animals. The most common thresholds used are or...
in the ecosystem. However, there is uncertainty as to what ecological niche the aurochs itself filled. Dr Frans Vera claims that the aurochs lived in open parkland and supports their inclusion in nature reserve management. Cis van Vuure, however, in his book, Retracing the Aurochs: History, Morphology and Ecology of an Extinct Wild Ox suggests that the aurochs dwelled in dense forests and marshes while the Wisent
Wisent
The wisent , Bison bonasus, also known as the European bison or European wood bison, is a species of Eurasian bison. It is the heaviest surviving land animal in Europe; a typical wisent is about long, not counting a tail of long, and tall. Weight typically can range from , with an occasional big...
dwelled in the open landscape. Wisent supporters claim that Heck cattle landscape management is a public relations ploy in order to illegitimately garner support for Heck cattle at the expense of a genuine native species, the wisent.
Breed organizations
- SIERDA – (International Union for the Breeding, Reintroduction and Development of the Reconstructed Aurochs)
External links
- EAAP breed description
- Modern German Heck cattle (in German)
- 'Nazi' cattle being bred in UK BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
(video) on introduction of Heck cattle to Devon, UK, 2009-04-26