Breeding Back

Breeding back is a form of artificial selection by the deliberate selective breeding of domestic animals in an attempt to achieve an animal breed with a phenotype that resembles a wildtype ancestor, usually one that is extinct. Breeding back is not to be confused with dedomestication.

It must be kept in mind that a breeding-back breed may be very similar to the extinct wild type in phenotype, ecological niche, and to some extent genetics, but the initial gene pool of that wild type is lost forever with its extinction. It is not truly possible for a breeding back attempt to actually recreate an extinct wild type that is the breeding target, as an extinct wild type cannot be resurrected via selective breeding alone. Furthermore, even the outward authenticity of a bred-back type depends on the quality of the stock used as the foundation of the project. As a result, some breeds, like Heck cattle are at best a vague look-alike of the extinct wildtype aurochs, according to scientific literature.