By “relict”
I of course do not mean this breed is a surviving aurochs population. But
Maronesa is one of the very few remaining cattle breeds that resemble the
aurochs overall to a large extent in overall appearance, apart from their size.
Maronesa
was and is used as a draft breed and their range is centred around the North of
Portugal. This breed usually is raised in the upland regions and live freely
most the time of the year. They are used to heavy raining and snowfall, and
even are known to fight of wolves and defending their calves.
Some
genetic studies find it to be well-differentiated among Iberian breeds [1], but
they also show striking phenotypic similarities to Auroquesa, Barrosa/Cachena
and some other Northern Portuguese cattle breeds. These similarities concern
f.e. horn shape, face shape and overall appearance, but Maronesa has a much
more Aurochs-like coat than the other breeds.
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| Well-marked sexual dimorphism |
In fact,
Maronesa is one of the very few breeds that still exhibit a nearly correct
aurochs coat colour: the bulls are dark brown to black with a lightly coloured
eel stripe, the cows are reddish brown and darker on neck, head, tail and anterior
side of the legs. Both sexes show a clear mealy mouth and the colour of the
very curly hair between the horns of bulls varies between orange, reddish brown
to black. However, some Maronesa bulls have a reduced or lacking eel stripe,
and some Maronesa cows also are coloured dark brown, in rare cases black; this
is an unpleasant effect of breeders selecting against sexual dimorphism in
colour. For some reason, many Iberian breeders apparently dislike the original
sexual dimorphism of cattle and if this selection process isn’t counteracted by
a program to conserve the primitive lineages of this breed, future Maronesa
might get as uniformly dark or black as Sayaguesa.
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| This is what I imagine the curly hair between the aurochs' horns to look like |
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| Bull with perfectly aurochs-like horns, albeit oriented too low |
The horns
of Maronesa are about the same size as in the aurochs, perhaps slightly smaller.
The curvature resembles those of the aurochs almost perfectly in many bulls and
also some cows, albeit being some 15-20° (just an estimation of mine) lower
than in the average archetype. While some bulls have rather thick horns, the
horns of most cows unfortunately are not as thick as in the aurochs, and the
tips curve outwards in many cases, similar to a corkscrew. Nevertheless, individuals
with inwards-facing horns of the breed surely are very helpful for effigy
breeding.
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| Cow with inwards-facing horn tips |
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| Cow with outwards-facing horn tips |
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| Large bull with thick horns, short skull |
Maronesa have,
as do the possibly related breeds Barrosa and Arouquesa, a comparably short and
concave skull, bulls in particular. Maronesa has a clear hump in many
individuals (again, bulls in particular), though this hump is not quite as tall
as in the Spanish fighting bull; some cows have a really athletic body, while
the bulls tend to be not as high-legged. But in general Maronesa are more
athletic than most Heck cattle, especially when kept under semi-natural
conditions and when they are not fattened.
This breed
is variable in size, but most individuals are not very big. Some are even as
small as Highland cattle. Therefore, the size is something that has to be
considered when choosing Maronesa for an effigy breeding program. However, some
individuals still grow comparably big, and one bull which’s semen is used in
Tauros Project allegedly reaches almost 160 cm at the shoulders.
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| Very aurochs-like cow in Faia Brava: proportions, colour and body shape look perfect to me. If the horns were larger, more upwards- and inwards-facing and the skull more elongated (and probably the body size larger), that cow would look perfectly like an Aurochs to me |
All in all,
Maronesa probably is one of the most aurochs-like breeds in Europe thanks to
its colour, horn shape (and also horn dimensions) and also proportions (at
least in cows, the bulls are not that long-legged). The curly hair between the
horns gives them a particularly wild appearance. Disadvantages of this breed
are the mostly small size and the short snouts. The fact that their horns are
very low is advantageous when crossing with breeds with very upright horns
(mostly Steppe cattle).
Maronesa is
a breed that has proven to survive well in the wild of Portugal, and is
resistant to heavy rainfall and snow. And they are known to fight off wolves. A
selection of good In my opinion, Maronesa is at least as desirable for rewilding as good Heck
cattle, especially when supplemented with another breed that adds
what is lacking in Maronesa. Maremmana for instance would improve the size,
head shape and also result in more upright horns within the aurochs’ variation
range. Add a bit Chianina and select carefully, and you get a very good
stand-in for the aurochs.
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| Cows in the Netherlands, used in Tauros Project |
Tauros
Project has a herd of nice Maronesa in the Netherlands and is producing
Maremmana x Maronesa crossbreeds at the moment. Let’s see what will come out of
it, it will certainly bring interesting results. The Faia Brava reserve also
has a herd of slender Maronesa that were released last year, and they will also
be combined with other breeds. The herd did very well with the rough conditions
in the reserve last year.
Here you have some nice videos of that breed (I would insert the videos themselves, but blogger doesn't find them):
Literature
[1] Catarina
Ginja et a.: Y chromosome haplotype
analysis in Portuguese cattle breeds using SNPs and STRs. 2009.
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