Aurochs Quotes

“Shame I’m all out of virgins and aurochs. What the hell’s the plural of ‘aurochs’ anyway?”
― Max Gladstone, Full Fathom Five

“On a more curious note, there have been historical attempts - some also in current times - to 'revive' an extinct wild form, the aurochs (Stokstad 2015), perhaps an example of the 'taste for the primitive' so characteristic of diverse human endeavors (Gombrich 2002). The case of the aurochs is tied to the Heck cattle and with that to the history of Nazi Germany. It would seem there are better ways to act to restore natural environments.

Gombrich EH. 2002. The Preference for the Primitive: Episodes in the History of Western Taste and Art. Phaidon.
Stokstad E. 2015. Bringing back the aurochs. Science 350:1144-1147.”
― Marcelo Sánchez-Villagra, The Process of Animal Domestication

“From an environmental point of view I have always believed that some of our native hardy breeds of cattle, such as Highlanders and Galloways, could be used in many nature conservation areas to replicate the activities of the ancient ox. This would be especially true if they were bred back to be capable of surviving all year round on natural vegetation, and were not to receive supplementary feeding or medicines.”
― Roy Dennis, Restoring the Wild: Sixty Years of Rewilding Our Skies, Woods and Waterways