Breeding Back - Use

Use

Bred-back breeds are interesting for conservation biology since they may fill an ecological gap that has been left due to the extinction of the wildtypes, in some cases due to hunting by humans. As long as food choice, behaviour, robustness, defence against predators, hunting or foraging instincts and phenotype are the same as in the wild type, it will function like it in the wilderness. Releasing such animals into the wild would fill the previously empty niche and allows a natural dynamic between the species of the ecosystem to re-evolve. However, breeding back-attempts do not always result in an animal that is closer to the wild type than other domestic breeds. For example, heck cattle bear less resemblance to the aurochs than many Iberian fighting cattle do.

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