Huge ancient wild cattle extinct for 400 years 'brought back from dead' to rewild Highlands

Trees for Life has launched the conservation scheme at Dundreggan Estate near Loch Ness which will see a herd of massive, long-horned tauros brought to Scotland.

A huge breed of ancient wild cattle extinct for 400 years are set to be “brought back from the dead” to rewild the Highlands near Loch Ness in a unique project.

Trees for Life has launched the scheme which could see the first introduction to the UK of massive, long-horned wild cattle called tauros, effectively reintroducing the aurochs - the wild ancestor of all domestic cattle. Four centuries after their extinction in Europe, the large muscular tauros species have been bred to be as similar as possible to ancient aurochs - a mega-herbivore which for millennia played a vital role in the natural world, including Scotland.

Aurochs were made extinct in Europe 400 years ago - but disappeared from Britain as early as 1300 BC. They’ve been likened to the woolly mammoth in terms of size. The rewilding charity aims to introduce a herd of up to 15 tauros from the Netherlands to its 4000-hectare Dundreggan estate near Loch Ness in 2026 as part of a scientific research project.

Steve Micklewright, CEO of Trees for Life, said: “Introducing the aurochs-like tauros to the Highlands four centuries after their wild ancestors were driven to extinction will refill a vital but empty ecological niche – allowing us to study how these remarkable wild cattle can be a powerful ally for tackling the nature and climate emergencies. Our Tauros Project is about looking forwards while learning from the past as we restore nature-rich landscapes that support wildlife and people, and are resilient to future environmental challenges.

“We also want to give people the chance to experience in a safe way the awe and wonder of getting close to an animal that feels really wild.”

Aurochs once roamed much of Europe, helping to support a rich mosaic of habitats including grasslands, forest and wetlands. The animals are depicted in prehistoric petroglyphs of the Côa Valley, Portugal, dating back 30,000 years.

One of Europe’s largest land mammals – and the heaviest after the woolly mammoth and woolly rhinoceros – they became globally extinct from hunting and habitat loss. The last aurochs died in Poland in 1627.

However, auroch DNA has survived in a number of ancient original cattle breeds. Uniquely, tauros have been “back-bred” to genetically replicate, resemble and behave like the aurochs.

Scientists in the Netherlands have sought to “bring aurochs back to life” since the early 2000s by interbreeding these species, aided by the first sequencing of the aurochs’ complete genome in 2011. While classified as domestic cattle, tauros bulls can reach up to nearly six feet at the shoulder and cows up to five feet.

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They can live in a wide range of environmental conditions with minimal human intervention. Research in Europe has found huge benefits to the environment and wildlife from the presence of tauros, which move in herds across landscapes, naturally grazing some areas intensively while leaving others untouched.

They also create “bullpits” - bowls in the earth carved out by rutting bulls using their horns and hooves, forming micro-habitats that support invertebrates, small mammals, plants and birds. There are already several hundred tauros in mainland Europe, in The Netherlands, Czechia, Croatia, Spain and Portugal.

Tauros are known to be placid, especially towards people. Trees for Life intends to release the small herd in Scotland as part of a five-year research project.

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