Who We Are
Lascaux cave. Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley (France)
Aurochs Group is a non-profit organization that promotes and nurtures an ecosystem for young entrepreneurs to successfully take their ideas into practice by creating viable startups. Building upon existing networks within the Polish diaspora community in the United States, we seek for members to become active and productive members of society as a whole, and citizens of honorable, ethical character.
Author: Francesco Bandarin Copyright: © UNESCO
Aurochs, the wild cattle that roamed most of Europe, parts of Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa were responsible for being the ancient ancestors of most domesticated cattle breeds. Eventually due to human destruction of their habitat and overhunting, the great and magnificent aurochs were already starting to become extinct by the first millennium A.D.
Jaktorów Forest was one of the few places in Europe where the hunting of aurochs were limited to princes and kings. Lithuanian-born Polish king Władysław II Jagiełło initiated what was probably the first ever conservation effort for an endangered species. King Władysław II Jagiełło, decreed that a designated number of forest rangers were employed to ensure care and protection for the last remaining aurochs.
from Frederic Cuviers Dictionary of Natural Science: Mammals, Paris, France, 1816. Illustration by Jean Gabriel Pretre, engraved by Boquet the elder, directed by Pierre Jean-Francois Turpin, and published by F.G. Levrault.
In 1627, the last recorded aurochs died in the Jaktorów Forest of Poland. Aurochs had surivived in Poland much longer than in other parts of Europe and the rest of the world due to the special conservation initiatives of the Polish-Lithuanian kings.
A Polish royal decree instructed these rangers and their families to “supervise the aurochs, collect hay in Jaktorów from the subjects, and provide this hay for the aurochs, monitor the aurochs and report to the starosta (mayor) for further instructions on what to do".
This conservation plan constituted by the king’s descendants in the Jagellonian dynasty, as well as by the Vasa dynasty. By the second half of the 16th century, the village of Kozłowice on the edge of the Jaktorowska Forest, housed sixteen forest rangers along with their families, whose sole duty was to take care of the aurochs and defend them against poachers. In return for their service, these rangers and their families received land for cultivation.
Monument to the last known aurochs, a female (cow) which died in 1627 within the Jaktorów Forest of Poland (photo by Tomasz Kuran)
Monument to King Władysław II Jagiełło in Central Park, NYC
(photo by Christopher Ziemnowicz)
Aurochs bull (illustration)
Historical background about our namesake
At Aurochs Group, we honor the noble aurochs as the ancestors of domesticated cattle as well as the tremendous conservation efforts of the Polish-Lithuanian kings.