Amsterdam Island cattle were a rare feral breed of cattle (Bos taurus) that were introduced in 1871 and existed in isolation on Amsterdam Island, a small French territory in the southern Indian Ocean. The population was eradicated in 2010 in the course of an environmental restoration program.
A party led by Heurtin, a French farmer (sometimes described as a peasant) from Réunion island, on 18 January 1871 attempted to settle the uninhabited 55 km2 island. After seven months, their attempts to raise sheep and cattle and grow crops had been unfruitful and they departed on 19 August, abandoning their livestock, including five cattle, on the island. [1]
Over the next century or so a combination of factors caused further ecological devastation of the island, which had already been impacted by the introduction of invasive species of plants and animals, as well as by unrestricted hunting, timber-cutting and wildfire caused by sealers and other visitors. The Amsterdam duck and several species of petrel became extinct, and the breeding population of the endemic Amsterdam Island albatross, previously thought to be a subspecies of the wandering albatross, was reduced to just five pairs. [2]
When the native Phylica arborea (syn. Phylica nitida) forest was almost entirely destroyed, grazing by the increasing numbers of cattle prevented natural regeneration. The original five cattle had grown to about 2000, which occupied an area of 3000 ha, at a density of 0.64 individuals per hectare. The only part of the island the cattle did not unoccupy was the Plateau des Tourbières, over 550 m above sea level. [3]
Although the cattle posed a threat to the island's environment, they formed one of the very few herds of feral Bos taurus anywhere in the world. [2] In 1987 a fence was built across the island in order to mitigate the damage the cattle were imposing on the flora and fauna of Amsterdam, as well as to preserve the breed because of scientific interest in its isolation-derived genetic character. During 1988 and 1989 the 1059 cattle south of the fence were culled. Subsequently, the cattle were restricted to the northern part of Amsterdam. About 50-80 mainly adult and subadult males out of a herd of about 350 individuals were shot each year to provide fresh meat for the inhabitants of the Martin-de-Viviès research station, the only settlement on the island. [3]
In 2007, after a study showed that the areas that were not grazed were recolonized by native plants, it was decided to kill all of the remaining cattle on the island. An association of people who had been wintering on the island tried to oppose the decision, but in vain. The slaughter began in 2008 and ended in 2010. [4]
Sea captain Charles C. Dixon described an encounter with the cattle ca. 1900:
We didn't have to hunt for the cattle. They remained on the slope, looking at us with surprise and resentment. They were horned, and brown in colour, and some of them had decided humps. I suppose they were a cross between a British breed and Indian cattle. We could see several herds of them beyond the one we faced, and I think there must have been a thousand or more of them.
— A Million Miles in Sail, p. 178 [5]
The cattle were descended from French stock present on Réunion at the time of their introduction, including Jersey, Tarentaise, Grey Alpine, and Breton Black Pied breeds. They were generally small-bodied, with medium-length horns, and exhibited a variety of colour patterns, including one that was reminiscent of the aurochs. Adult male cattle had an average weight of about 390 kg, while adult females weighed about 290 kg. [3]
The aurochs, also known as urus or ure, is an extinct species of large wild cattle that inhabited Asia, Europe, and North Africa. It is the ancestor of domestic cattle. The species survived in Europe until 1627, when the last recorded aurochs died in the Jaktorów Forest, Poland.
The Canchim is a breed of beef cattle developed in Central Brazil by crossing European Charolais cattle with Indubrazil cattle already kept in Brazil where Asian Zebu type cattle are best suited to the tropical conditions. When compared with Zebu bulls, Canchim bulls produce the same number of calves, but heavier and of superior quality. Compared to European breeds, the Canchim bull produces calves with the same weight but in larger numbers. The fast-growing progeny, from crossbred zebu cows with Canchim bulls, can be slaughtered at 18 months old from feedlots after weaning, up to 24 months old from feedlots after grazing and at 30 months from grazing on the range.
A zebu, sometimes known as indicine cattle or humped cattle, is a species or subspecies of domestic cattle originating in South Asia. Zebu are characterised by a fatty hump on their shoulders, a large dewlap, and sometimes drooping ears. They are well adapted to withstanding high temperatures, and are farmed throughout the tropical countries, both as pure zebu and as hybrids with taurine cattle, the other main type of domestic cattle. Zebu are used as draught and riding animals, dairy cattle, and beef cattle, as well as for byproducts such as hides and dung for fuel and manure. Zebu, namely miniature zebu, are kept as companion animals. In 1999, researchers at Texas A&M University successfully cloned a zebu.
Bos is the genus of wild and domestic cattle. Bos can be divided into four subgenera: Bos, Bibos, Novibos, and Poephagus, but including these last three divisions within the genus Bos without including Bison in the genus is believed to be paraphyletic by many workers on the classification of the genus since the 1980s. The genus has five extant species. However, this may rise to eight if the domesticated varieties are counted as separate species, and ten if the closely related genus Bison is also included. Most but not all modern breeds of domesticated cattle are believed to have originated from the extinct aurochs. Many ancient breeds are thought to have originated from other species. Zebus and Taurine cattle are thought to descend from ancient Indian and Middle Eastern aurochs, respectively.
Heck cattle are a hardy breed of domestic cattle. These cattle are the result of an attempt by the Heck brothers to breed back the extinct aurochs from modern aurochs-derived cattle in the 1920s and 1930s. Controversy revolves around methodology and success of the programme. There are considerable differences between Heck cattle and the aurochs in build, height, and body proportions. Furthermore, there are other cattle breeds which resemble their wild ancestors at least as much as Heck cattle.
Île Amsterdam, also known as Amsterdam Island, New Amsterdam, or Nouvelle Amsterdam, is an island of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands in the southern Indian Ocean that together with neighbouring Île Saint-Paul 90 km to the south forms one of the five districts of the territory.
Île Saint-Paul is an island forming part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands in the Indian Ocean, with an area of 6 km2. The island is located about 90 km (56 mi) south of the larger Île Amsterdam, 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) northeast of the Kerguelen Islands, and 3,000 km (1,900 mi) southeast of Réunion. It is the nearest landfall to the antipode of the geographic center of the contiguous United States.
Salvin's albatross or Salvin's mollymawk, is a large seabird that breeds only in islands in New Zealand's realm. A medium-sized mollymawk in the albatross family, it was long considered to be a subspecies of the shy albatross. It is a medium-sized black and white albatross.
The Amsterdam albatross or Amsterdam Island albatross, Diomedea amsterdamensis, is a large albatross which breeds only on Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean. It was only described in 1983, and was thought by some researchers to be a sub-species of the wandering albatross, D. exulans. BirdLife International and the IOC recognize it as a species, James Clements does not, and the SACC has a proposal on the table to split the species. More recently, mitochondrial DNA comparisons between the Amsterdam albatross, the wandering albatross Diomedea exulans, the Antipodean albatross D. antipodensis and the Tristan albatross D. dabbenena, provide clear genetic evidence that the Amsterdam albatross is a separate species.
The great albatrosses are seabirds in the genus Diomedea in the albatross family. The genus Diomedea formerly included all albatrosses except the sooty albatrosses, but in 1996 the genus was split, with the mollymawks and the North Pacific albatrosses both being elevated to separate genera. The great albatrosses themselves form two species complexes, the wandering and Amsterdam albatrosses, and the royal albatrosses. The splitting of the great albatrosses into six or seven species has been accepted by most, though not all authorities.
The Indian yellow-nosed albatross is a member of the albatross family, and is the smallest of the mollymawks. In 2004, BirdLife International split this species from the Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross; however Clements has not split it yet, and the SACC has not either, but recognises the need for a proposal.
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The White Park is a rare breed of ancient horned cattle primarily residing in Great Britain. Two similar semi-feral populations, the Chillingham Wild Cattle in Northumbria and the Vaynol cattle from Gwynedd in North Wales, have a separate breed status. There are relatively small numbers of the White Park cattle in the United States, where they are commonly known as the Ancient White Park in order to distinguish them from the American White Park, which is a population of the British White breed.
The Banker horse is a breed of feral horse living on barrier islands in North Carolina's Outer Banks. It is small, hardy, and has a docile temperament. Descended from domesticated Spanish horses and possibly brought to the Americas in the 16th century, the ancestral foundation bloodstock may have become feral after surviving shipwrecks or being abandoned on the islands by one of the exploratory expeditions led by Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón or Sir Richard Grenville. Populations are found on Ocracoke Island, Shackleford Banks, Currituck Banks, Cedar Island, and in the Rachel Carson Estuarine Sanctuary.
Campbell Island cattle were a feral breed of domestic cattle found on Campbell Island, New Zealand. From photographs taken in 1976 it appeared that the cattle were at least partly of shorthorn origin. This breed is now extinct.
The Amsterdam and Saint-Paul Islands temperate grasslands is a temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion comprising Île Amsterdam and Île Saint-Paul, two volcanic islands in the southern Indian Ocean.
Cattle, or cows (female) and bulls (male), are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos taurus.
The Plateau des Tourbières comprises the highest upland region of Amsterdam Island, a small French territory in the southern Indian Ocean. Over 500 m above sea level, it contains the island's highest peaks: Mont de la Dives (881 m), Grande Marmite (742 m) and Mont Fernand (731 m).
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