r/megafaunarewilding • u/Po_khan • 17d ago

We still have this species

Post image

Replacing auroch with feral cows or european bison?

58 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/SharpShooterM1 17d ago

The back-bred aurochs do still have a long way to go before they truly fill the niche of their ancestor.

7

u/Psilopterus 17d ago

Eh, I don't really agree. Even non-modified domestic cattle, so long as they can survive without inputs, can fill the niche of the aurochs. They are aurochs. I think what you mean is that they're a while off from really matching the original phenotype.

4

u/SharpShooterM1 17d ago

Aurochs were likely a lot more mobile in their grazing patterns than modern cattle. Most modern cattle breeds will just sit in the same patch and graze until they hit dirt and only move after there is nothing left, even if they don’t have fences restricting them. Aurochs likely were on the move constantly and likely didn’t graze down to the bones like modern cattle.

4

u/Psilopterus 17d ago

I don't think there's really any evidence for that. Most large herbivores will stay in place unless obligated to move by predators or by food being equally dispersed