Heck Cattle

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Heck cattle are a hardy breed of domestic cattle. These cattle are the result of an attempt to breed back the extinct aurochs from modern aurochs-derived cattle in the 1920s and 1930s. Controversy revolves around methodology and success of the program. There are considerable differences between Heck cattle and the aurochs. Furthermore, there are other cattle breeds which resemble their wild ancestors at least as much as Heck cattle.
Details:  
Country Germany, D
Location several natur reserves in germany. e.g.: Falkenthaler Rieselfelder near Berlin. There are also Heck Cattle at the Nesseaue nature reserve near Jena, Thuringia and at the Grubenfelder Leonie nature reseve in Auerbach, Bavaria.
Species Cattle
Management feral
Population size about 2000 throughout Europe
Morphology A typical Heck bull should be at least 1.6m high and a cow 1.4m, with weight 600 to 900kg. Heck cattle are twenty to thirty centimeters shorter than the aurochs they were bred to resemble. But there are quite successful attempts in Jena to breed Heck Cattle to the size of the original aurochs
History Heck cattle originated in the 1920s and 1930s in an attempt to breed back domestic cattle to their ancestral form: the aurochs (Bos primigenius primigenius).[3] Extensive breeding programs to bring back the aurochs were conducted by the German brothers Lutz and Heinz Heck.[4] Heinz was the director of the Hellabrunn Zoological Gardens in Munich and Lutz of the Berlin Zoological Gardens. Both brothers executed separate breeding-back attempts, using a different selection of cattle breeds. For example, Lutz Heck (Berlin) used Spanish fighting bulls, while Heinz (Munich) did not.[2] The Berlin breed seemingly did not survive the Second World War, so all modern Heck cattle go back to the experiments of Heinz Heck in Munich.
Contact Syndicat International pour l´Elevage,
la Reconnaissance et le Développement
de l´Aurochs-reconstitué SIERDA
Source of information Wikipedia; http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/aurochs.htm; http://www.nlwkn.niedersachsen.de/naturschutz/foerderprogramme/life/cuxhavener_kuestenheiden/43017.html
Hyperlink http://www.oniris-nantes.fr

 

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Heck Cattle germany, Haselünne

FP_307feral_Heck Cattle DE.jpg