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Chillingham Wild Cattle
The Chillingham Wild Cattle
represent a remarkable breed of
cattle famous for their unique
behaviour and apparent tolerance
of heavy
inbreeding.
Situated near
Chillingham in
Northumberland, the herd
inhabitates a paddock that has
been erected in the
Middle Ages. It consists of
roughly 50 individuals, although
the number was much lower just
after
World War 2. A reserve herd
has been set up in
Scotland. The cattle are
mostly kept free from human
interaction and react to humans
much the same as wild animals
would.
While it is probable that there
has been no addition of new blood
since the
Middle Ages, the total genetic
isolation of the herd can be
conclusively documented for
roughly 300 years. It is quite
remarkable that such a herd is
capable of surviving at all, since
one would normally expect them to
become subject to
inbreeding depression. This
phenomenon earned the herd a
mention in
Nature in 2001 (Visscher
et al.: "A Viable Herd of
Genetically Uniform Cattle",
Nature 409 (18 Jan 2001),
p.303).
