Heck cattle
The Lutz and Heinz Heck were two German zoologists who were rather caught up in the lore and romance of German nationalism. Ever since the unification of Germany, German scholars and naturalists were trying to recreate the ancient German animals of the supposed Teutonic Golden Age.
The Hecks were responsible for recreating a cow that looked a lot like the aurochs, the wild Eurasian ox from whence domestic cattle descend. (Indian cattle descend from another subspecies of aurochs, which is why they are bit different). These cattle are called Heck cattle, and they can be found in parks and reserves throughout Europe today. They are not aurochs, however. They are nothing more than a selectively-bred strain of domestic cattle that descends from known domestic strains. The cattle do look a lot like the aurochsen that are depicted at the “Hall of Bulls” at the Lascaux caves.
They also tried to recreate the European wild horse called the Tarpan. The Heck horse resembles Przewalski’s horse in some ways, but like the Heck cattle, the Heck horses are derived from domestic breeds. They have been selected for their “wild” appearance.
Now, the Hecks did try to pass their animals off as recreated versions of the extinct animals. This is a bit like me taking my golden boxer and promoting her as a St. John’s water dog.
Now, the Nazis embraced the Heck brothers’ work. Their work fit into the romantic German nationalism that they embraced as the basis of their politics. Now, the Nazis also included horrible anti-Semitism and eugenics principles, but all of these things worked together. The Hecks were scientific heroes in Nazi Germany, but their cows were not aurochsen and their horses were not tarpans.
One does not have to be a Nazi to want to “breed back” extinct forms. The Cavalier King Charles spaniel is a breed that was bred back, as is the Irish wolfhound. Farley Mowat, who tried to save the St. John’s water dog, is a left-winger, a former member of the New Democratic Party of Canada and a current supporter of the Green Party.
But sometimes these innocent romantic notions wind up being used for odious political gains. And this was the case of the Heck brothers’ animal enterprises.
