The Tauros
The Tauros, what should it be like?
The general answer to this question is: as close as can be to Aurochs. As a guideline for our breeding programme our scientific board has formulated a set of features.
The most important ones:
- The general build needs to be slender. High on the legs, the mass in front, no beef butt. The animal should be able to move around with ease in all kinds of circumstances and habitats;
- Sexual dimorphism: Bulls being bigger and differently coloured than cows.
- Animals should be completely self-reliant. Small calves, easily being born are a precondition;
- We want natural behaviour. We consider overly aggressive behaviour - as seen for example in fighting bulls (Toro de Lidia) as unnatural behaviour, being bred in by many centuries of human selection;
The pictures below give a fairly good idea of what a Tauros Bull would look like (although the head should be more elongated still) and what a group of Tauros might look like in a European Landscape
(c) Marleen Felius/Stichting Taurus.