Last Aurochs Sighting Confirmed
1686
Polish foresters at Jaktorow confirmed that the aurochs, once widespread across Europe, had been reduced to a handful of animals on a single royal reserve. A long, slow biological extinction was becoming visible to European administrators; conservation as an idea was, without being named, beginning to flicker into existence. The species would be entirely gone within decades.
In context
Also in 1686 (4 other events on record)
- Buda Reconquered from the Ottomans · Europe · War
- Mughal Empire at Its Greatest Extent · South Asia · Politics
- Dominion of New England · North America · Politics
- Fontenelle's Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds · Europe · Science
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Science
Era
Enlightenment (1651–1800), one of 696 events from that era on Saeculum.