Europe To Revive Extinct Species A La Jurassic Park

For years, the thought of bringing back an extinct species of animals has been shown to be a bad idea. Movies have shown what would happen if ever dinosaurs, saber-tooth tigers, or even dragons were introduced to the modern world. However, this is exactly what Europe is trying to do by bringing back an extinct species called Aurochs. For those who don’t know, aurochs are a species of cattle that died out in the 1600s.

The project called Rewilding Europe is an attempt by scientists to bring back balance in the ecosystem by re-introducing creatures that were lost centuries ago. According to the project’s About page, the aim of the project is to make Europe a much wilder place than it is now.

“We believe that all kinds of landscapes, from city centers to wilderness areas, can and need to be rewilded,” the page reads. “Not all of them becoming pure wilderness of course, but all habitats can become quite a bit wilder. Including all areas under different levels of legal protection. If the level of “wildness” could be measured on a scale from 0 to 10, where zero is a city center and 10 a remote wilderness, we would like to see all of Europe move up a notch or two or three along that scale.”

With regards to the revival of the aurochs, project founder Wouter Helmer explained to The Telegraph that the cattle species was invaluable in how the ecosystem in Europe and some parts of Asia worked for millennia. They helped maintain diversity in the landscape, particularly in terms of plant growth where the aurochs would be grazing on large forested areas.

For those who are concerned about the methods, it’s merely a matter of selective breeding. It’s basically a reversal of evolution where instead of becoming a new species, the newer generation of the creatures will become more like the old ones.