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fandomhigh2018-05-29 10:12 am
livingartifact) wrote in fandomhigh2018-05-29 10:12 am
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Earth Zoology -- Pre-History Edition, Tuesday, Period 2
The Danger Shop today was programmed to be somewhat less spectacular than it had been the past two weeks. Instead of a barren, rocky landscape or a lush, verdant forest, the students instead found themselves standing in an open field, edged on three sides by sparse forest, and on the fourth by a narrow river. It looked and felt like a landscape that could easily have been found in Fandom's own preserve.
"Hello students," Jenkins greeted with a small nod at the top of the class. "We have spent the last couple of weeks millions and billions of years in the past, and we will spend the next several nearly as far back, or farther. But extinction is not merely a prehistory event, and I thought this week it might be interesting to look at a creature whose time on Earth ended not all that long ago at all." He gestured to the open grassland. "Welcome to Jaktorów Forest, in 16th century Poland, about 500 years ago. In a little more than fifty years time, the last known survivor of a species vital to mankind's development will die of natural causes. For now, there are still 38 of the animals known to live here. Hunting them has been outlawed, but it's much too late to save them now. We are in the twilight of the aurochs."
A handful of truly enormous cattle stepped out of the woods and into the field. The tallest stood nearly six feet at the shoulder, its head crowned by massive, curved horns. This was the platonic ideal of the word "bull".
"Any of you who has eaten a hamburger or the most common types of cheese in America, or indeed worn a leather jacket has benefitted from the aurochs. These are the precursors to modern cattle, America's favorite stock animal, but domestication was not enough for humanity, we had to hunt the wild ones as well." Jenkins rested his hand on the side of one of the creatures, whose back came up to his chin. "They were also one of humanity's first attempts to preserve a species. As I said, hunting in the era I've replicated here has been suspended — this after a few hundred years in which it was restricted only to those with the most power in the world. The land we're standing on was maintained and protected in order to track the waning population. In the modern era, we've learned how to wrestle species back from the brink of extinction, though it's still a struggle we often lose to this day."
He patted the aurochs a few more times, then turned back to the class. "These animals here are quite used to the presence of humans, thanks to the efforts of the gamekeepers who track them, so feel free to step up and get a good look. They've recaptured Earth's imagination again of late; in fact, scientists in Europe have been hoping to rebreed the aurochs back into existence — or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof — using modern genetics and a variety of the domestic species descended from the animals. Whether this is a reasonable goal or not is the subject of some debate — Europe is an extremely populous continent, and overhunting was not the sole cause of the animals' extinction. A narrowing of available grazing land would still be of some concern, as would the potential for disease transmitted by their domestic cousins. Also, there is simply the matter of 'playing God', a phrase people like to toss around about scientists whom they believe have ambitions above their station. Still, it's an interesting idea to toss around: humanity having brought about its downfall, might we also be the ones to bring it back?"
"Hello students," Jenkins greeted with a small nod at the top of the class. "We have spent the last couple of weeks millions and billions of years in the past, and we will spend the next several nearly as far back, or farther. But extinction is not merely a prehistory event, and I thought this week it might be interesting to look at a creature whose time on Earth ended not all that long ago at all." He gestured to the open grassland. "Welcome to Jaktorów Forest, in 16th century Poland, about 500 years ago. In a little more than fifty years time, the last known survivor of a species vital to mankind's development will die of natural causes. For now, there are still 38 of the animals known to live here. Hunting them has been outlawed, but it's much too late to save them now. We are in the twilight of the aurochs."
A handful of truly enormous cattle stepped out of the woods and into the field. The tallest stood nearly six feet at the shoulder, its head crowned by massive, curved horns. This was the platonic ideal of the word "bull".
"Any of you who has eaten a hamburger or the most common types of cheese in America, or indeed worn a leather jacket has benefitted from the aurochs. These are the precursors to modern cattle, America's favorite stock animal, but domestication was not enough for humanity, we had to hunt the wild ones as well." Jenkins rested his hand on the side of one of the creatures, whose back came up to his chin. "They were also one of humanity's first attempts to preserve a species. As I said, hunting in the era I've replicated here has been suspended — this after a few hundred years in which it was restricted only to those with the most power in the world. The land we're standing on was maintained and protected in order to track the waning population. In the modern era, we've learned how to wrestle species back from the brink of extinction, though it's still a struggle we often lose to this day."
He patted the aurochs a few more times, then turned back to the class. "These animals here are quite used to the presence of humans, thanks to the efforts of the gamekeepers who track them, so feel free to step up and get a good look. They've recaptured Earth's imagination again of late; in fact, scientists in Europe have been hoping to rebreed the aurochs back into existence — or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof — using modern genetics and a variety of the domestic species descended from the animals. Whether this is a reasonable goal or not is the subject of some debate — Europe is an extremely populous continent, and overhunting was not the sole cause of the animals' extinction. A narrowing of available grazing land would still be of some concern, as would the potential for disease transmitted by their domestic cousins. Also, there is simply the matter of 'playing God', a phrase people like to toss around about scientists whom they believe have ambitions above their station. Still, it's an interesting idea to toss around: humanity having brought about its downfall, might we also be the ones to bring it back?"