Heck cattle originated in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s in an attempt to
breed back domestic cattle to their ancestral form: the
aurochs (
Bos primigenius primigenius). In the first years of the
Weimar Republic, the brothers
Heinz and
Lutz Heck independently started their extensive breeding-back programmes. Their motivation was to rescue the aurochs from oblivion because it was constantly confused with the
European bison, the other large bovine of Holocene Europe. The Heck brothers believed that creating a look-alike and showing both species next to each other would help to show the difference between the two species to a broader public. Apart from that, they believed they were able to reconstruct the species and therefore to correct the mistake man made when killing the species off. Lutz Heck used
Spanish Fighting Bulls for his breed, some of which were released in the Polish
Romincka Forest, but survived until the late 1940s when they were killed during the end of the Second World War.
Rewilding Lutz Heck's cattle breed was met with objection since the beginnings of this project, as these cattle were aggressive and their
ecological impact on the native fauna was considered to be unpredictable. Later rewilding attempts in Poland were rejected. Lutz Heck's cattle were exterminated at the end of the Second World war. Heinz Heck used a different set of breeds; all living Heck cattle go back to his stock. Advocates of Heck cattle often claim that Heinz' and Lutz' breeding results looked largely identical, thus "proving the success" of their experiment. However, Berlin and Munich Heck cattle did not look very similar. Others are at the Falkenthaler Rieselfelder near
Berlin, at the Nesseaue nature reserve near
Erfurt,
Thuringia and at the Grubenfelder Leonie nature reserve in
Auerbach,
Bavaria. About 100 were registered in
France in 2000. The introduction of Heck cattle into nature reserves in order to restore ancient landscapes inspired
Rewilding Europe. The way of no interference in the Oostvaardersplassen, however, was terminated in 2018, as large numbers of animals died of
starvation during the cold winters of 2005 and 2010, which caused a loss of public support. A small population of Hecks lives in the Beremytske Nature Park in the
Chernihiv region of Ukraine.
Criticism Criticism of the methodology and result of the Heck brothers' programs dates back to at least the 1950s. Cis van Vuure describes the work of W. Herre in 1953 and O. Koehler in 1952: : A lack of basic knowledge about the extinct aurochs, broad selection criteria ... 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. Cis van Vuure further stated that: : On account of the absence of any marked similarity in size, colour, and horn shape, among other aspects, Heck cattle cannot be considered to resemble the aurochs closely. Rather they should be seen as a population of cattle in which a few aurochs characteristics may be found; a trait they share with many other cattle populations. In the view of some experts, primitive Southern European cattle breeds are much closer overall to the aurochs than Heck cattle, such as the Spanish fighting bull. == Characteristics ==