Aurochs and Analogues

Analogue Species

• Ecologically similar

• Taxonomically close Can we replace extinct species with similar extant ones? • Conservation value

Re-wilding projects Many precedents

• Interest in replacing extinct mega-fauna of • Introduction of different sub-species to North America. replace lost one. • Replacing extinct Lions and Cheetahs. • Back-crossing domestic animals to get • Elephants to replace Mammoths. back to wild form.

• Re-activating lost ecological interactions. • Use conservation introductions to restore lost ecological interactions.

1 Species can express great Species may adapt to fit the vacant niche variation over time • Species can adapt to new habitats by natural selection. • Sparrows introduced to North America had changed and were obeying expected bio- geographical principles in 50-90 generations. • Honeycreepers changed bill morphology in a century in response to changes in community structure.

Peregrine Falcon Peregrine Falcon Distribution

• Died out in the Eastern United States in the 1960’s due to DDT poisoning.

• Peregrine Falcons introduced from six different subspecies. • Releases in the late 1970’s and 1980’s. • Races very dissimilar to eastern race rapidly selected against. • Within a few generations the resulting falcon phenotypically similar to extinct race

2 Resurrecting the Auroch British White Park Cattle

• Wild ancestor of the • Wild cattle enclosed modern cow. in British parks since 1220. • Derived from feral • Extinct since 1627. cattle, Aurochs or their hybrids? • Some old breeds • Selection for white contain some features animals. of wild Auroch? • Behave like wild animals.

Modern Aurochs Tarpan • Selective cross breeding of several • European wild horse. primitive breeds. • Extinct 1820 or later. • Breeding started in • Last animals in Polish 1921, first at Munich forests where they Zoo and later at the crossed with domestic Berlin Zoo. ponies. • By 1932 were • 1920’s all Tarpan like breeding true to type horses gathered up to and similar to try and breed back to Aurochs! wild type.

Konik Horses Quagga

• Tarpan hybrids • Last one died in crossed with closely captivity in 1883. related Przewalski • mtDNA studies wild horses. demonstrate that it is • Resultant Konik a race of Burchell’s horses breed true to Zebra. type and are said to • These show a north be 98% Tarpan. south cline with the • These and Aurochs stripes becoming being used to graze more prominent in natural grasslands. northern races.

3 Replacing Extinct Mascarene Burchell’s Zebra to Quagga Tortoises • Radiation of Cylindrapsis tortoises in the Mascarene Islands. All five species extinct. • Can we find suitable species to replace these?

Replacing endemic tortoises Analogue Species 1. Endemic plants co-evolved with the tortoises. Convergence between 2. Many plants show possible Mascarene and adaptations to tortoise herbivory – Galapagos prostrate growth forms, heterophylly, unpalatable, resistant Tortoises. to trampling, seeds spread by tortoises.

3. Some species decline when grazing is removed, Aerva congesta, Phylanthus revaughanii, Vetiveria arguta.

Heterophylly Coarse unpalatable leaves

4 Seed dispersers

Prostrate growing plants that were part of Ebony fruit, the tortoise grazing climax community now Diospyros Critically Endangered. egrettarum

Can Exotic Tortoises Replace Aldabra Tortoises create the Extinct Species? “tortoise lawns”, selectively graze some species, and avoid others, spread seeds of • Three surviving endemic species. tortoises in the Indian Ocean believed to be Aldabra Tortoises successfully in a sister clade to introduced to some Cylindrapsis. Seychelles Islands. Ploughshare Tortoise, Some justification for Radiated Tortoise and conservation introduction of Aldabra Tortoise. rare tortoises

Aldabra Giant Tortoise Tussock Grass Community

• Small herd of 20 • The endemic grass Vetiveria arguata, that survived when adults on Ile aux there were rabbits on the island, is being replaced by Aigrettes exotic grasses. • Successfully breeding • Vetiveria arguta has • Studying impacts on adaptations to discourage plant community grazing and was probably a component of the grazing • A suitable climax community. replacement for • There is a need to replace the extinct species? rabbits with a less harmful herbivore.

5 Tussock Grass Community Man is acting as a grazer

• Vetiveria arguta used to form large tussock formations. • Tussocks used by seabirds as nesting sites. • Tussocks important habitat for Telfair’sSkink, Bojer’sSkink and Round Island Boa. • Vetiveria now declining rapidly and likely to become extinct on Round Island without some grazing pressure.

Round Island and the need for Tortoise Translocation tortoises • Record of a tortoise in 1844 (Lloyd) • Minimal risk of spread of disease – strict • Today there is no grazer quarantining and disease screening • Invasive species are the greatest threat to • Easily removed with minimal impact the native flora • No risk of reproducing – sub-adult • Tortoises will preferentially graze invasive tortoises species

Future possible analogues • Round Island was once a graze-climax habitat

• Invasive weeds are an ongoing threat

• Vital to return a grazer

6 Galapagos Tortoises, Santiago Land Iguana awakening the dead • Should we return • Iguana’s present, tortoises to Pinta, noted by Darwin. Santa Fe, Floreana and Fernandina? • Extinct by 1906 • Can we use other • Do we need to taxa to replace the replace it. extinct ones? • Is it important to restore the role of grazers, browsers and seed dispersers?

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