Retracing the Aurochs: History, Morphology and Ecology of an Extinct Wild Ox by Cis Van Vurre

‘The aurochs is fearless and large-horned’, according to a 9th century Anglo-Saxon rune verse from North Germany. Old Germanic legends, rune verses, language reconstruction, archaeological finds, medieval descriptions, genetic analyses and modern cattle make up the sources for an overall picture of the aurochs (Bos primigenius). As a wild animal, this impressive mammal lived in large areas of Asia, Europe and North Africa, during the last one and a half million years. Nowadays some thousand cattle types have left, bred from the aurochs in the course of millennia. The original aurochs became extinct. For fifteen years, Wageningen researcher Cis van Vuure has worked on its morphology, ecology and habitat. The project, in which this monograph was realized, has been financed and supervised by Wageningen University (Wageningen, the Netherlands) and the Ministry of the Flemish Community (Brussels, Belgium).

In his book ‘Retracing the aurochs ’, for both specialists and non-specialists, Cis van Vuure sheds light on all conceivable approaches of this mammal. The aurochs originates from India and Pakistan and spread to Europe and North Africa during Pleistocene and Holocene periods, lived along the Nile River and even arrived in China. Early human hunters immortalized this imposing bovine species in cave paintings at Lascaux and Altamira, 20,000 years ago. Of a more recent date are aurochs drawings from Central Siberia and Pharaonic Egypt. From Mesopotamia hunting depictions are known in which the Assyrian king Assurnassirpal II captured many aurochs, during the 9th century BC. In Europe, the extinction of the aurochs, caused by hunting and ousting, advanced from southwest to northeast. The last population lived in a royal forest reserve in Central Poland near the village of Jaktorów. The last specimen, a cow, died in 1627.

The aurochs bull had an impressive appearance with its shoulder height of 160-180 cm., and large dirty white horns with a dark tip, a colour comparable with that in Spanish fighting cattle. The horns could reach a length of more than one meter. By means of cave paintings, medieval pictures and writings, and genetics (of modern cattle) the coat colour of the aurochs could be reconstructed. The bull was blackish brown to black with a lighter dorsal stripe; the smaller cow (ca. 150 cm) was reddish brown, as was the young calf.

From ca. 7,000 BC onward, man domesticated the aurochs during a gradual process, parallel to sheep and goat. Not only many cattle breeds originated, but also a dichotomy in bovine animals came into being, that is zebu- (humped) and taurine (humpless) cattle. During this selection process the initially large differences between bull and cow (sexual dimorphism) diminished, shoulder height decreased, milk yield increased and diverse colours and horn forms emerged.

In its natural environment, the aurochs mainly ate grasses in spring and summer, in autumn acorns as well and in winter furthermore branches and possibly tree bark. In the forested landscape the aurochs especially searched for food in extensive wet forests and marshes along rivers, lakes and shores. The former nickname of the aurochs (‘morstapa’ – Anglo-Saxon for ‘marsh walker’) points to this preferred way of living. The population density of aurochs probably strongly varied, depending on the openness of the forest. Aurochs themselves, like other large herbivores, had little impact on forest structure and openness of the landscape; this conclusion was drawn from studies in palynology, archaeoentomology and Roman writings, and from the situation in the Great Wilderness in former East Prussia.

In spite of its large size, in Europe predators like wolf and lion cornered the aurochs. Especially young and diseased animals fell prey to them; full-grown bulls were able to kill many a wolf by kicking or goring, as was stated in Old Polish writings. Lynx, bear and fox were especially after young calves.

In his richly illustrated book Cis van Vuure gives a picture of the aurochs as it has never been described before. He paints a picture of this intriguing mammal as complete as possible and in that is why this multidisciplinary approach rules out large gaps. Moreover, in his description and evaluation of the breeding-back experiment by the Heck brothers, the author discusses the value and possibilities of breeding-back the aurochs from still existing cattle types, and their potential use and role in nature conservation.

In the book an extensive list of References and an Index are included.
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