Heck Cattle - The First Time We Tried to Resurrect Aurochs

In the 1920s and 30s two brothers attempted to bring back the wild ancestor of cattle - the Aurochs. However, things soon took a dark turn.

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[veggieboyultimate]

De-extinction should really be talked about more.

[alchemist]

"So what are we going to do after we spend all this time and money bringing back the Aurochs?"
"Shoot them, mostly."

[sebyoung]

It’s also worth mentioning some original genes from the auroch are recoverable. This is in the form of ancestral DNA which can become active again. It is possible by this process of backbreeding to recover some of the genes and traits. Certainly not all of them tho.

[agustinaguero]

Aurochs remind me a lot of Minoans art and the myth of Minos

[brianedwards]

There was a feud in an Indian village a few years ago with everyone accusing everyone else of stealing chickens. In the end a policeman set up camera traps and caught one of the sacred cows killing and eating a chicken.

[Arachobia]

"Welcome, to Teutonic Park!" *German horn version of Jurassic Park theme plays as herds of Heck Cattle as Wisent majestically walk into the video frame*

[DaVideoGameBeastr]

I love how most extinct animals can be summed up as "it's a (insert modern animal) but bigger"

[GrassTroll]

“-Intertwined with one of the darkest periods of human history.” Huh, wonder which one he means? *Says a German name* Uh oh...

[amaccoy]

Magnificent creatures. Cattle aren't appreciated enough for what they are.

[christianfreedom-seeker]

So my own family has a tie-in with the Hecks. One of my relatives went to work for them and started to bring animals from Africa to the Berlin zoo in the 1900's. I remember my Grandmother telling me the story many times when she was alive.

[nyar]

I'm from the field of Assyriology, and have been interested in ancient cattle (aurochs and wisent) for many years, as both played a salient role in the formation of Neolithic and later Sumerian religious concepts. I always get excited when my corner of the humanities overlaps with biology, and this video has inspired me to look at the current breeding efforts. Very helpful, so thanks for creating this wonderfully informative video!

[absolutelyyousless]

Irish Elk (those elk with gigantic antlers) would be interesting to bring back from extinction, as their environment still remains for the most part in modern times, meaning few complications about releasing them after they have a suitable population, and to my knowledge they went extinct recently enough to have a large amount of viable DNA to clone them with.

[NaturesCompendium]

Really loved this video. Will you guys cover heck horses as well, and maybe the quagga project too?

[SakuraAsranArt]

Nobody:

Nazis: We're gonna need some giant angry cows.

[mushroomsamba]

Yeah, you can't just breed a bunch of weird looking cattle and declare the aurochs resurrected lol

[PhantomCatMusic]

Everyone: Imprisoned in Dachau
My brain: Imprisoned in da cow
I'm going to Heck for this

[safron]

TIL: A single Aurochs is called an Aurochs and not an Auroch.

[Sensko]

Eh, not to be a wet blanket, but even if Aurochs are succesfully recreated, they're not gonna be be grazing anywhere that isn't a national park or zoo.
EDIT: I'm speaking about Western Europe. As people have pointed out, the situation in Eastern Europe might be different.

[MrJeffcoley]

“Tainted by association with the Nazis.”

They’re ANIMALS. There are many reasons to scorn the Heck effort, but hating the breed because the men who created it were Nazis is stupid.

[matyaskassay]

Some good news: as a part of the Tauros programme, the most auroch-like cattle are now being introduced to several national parks including the Danube delta to test if they're viable in the wild and can fulfill their original ecological role.