Chillingham Cattle
| Chillingham cattle | |
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A portion of the Chillingham cattle herd grazing
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 Chillingham cattle
 Chillingham cattle shown within Northumberland |
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| OS grid reference | NU074256 |
| Coordinates | 55°31′30″N 1°53′02″W / 55.525°N 1.884°WCoordinates: 55°31′30″N 1°53′02″W / 55.525°N 1.884°W |
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Chillingham cattle a.k.a. Chillingham wild cattle are a breed of cattle that live in a large enclosed park at Chillingham Castle, Northumberland, England. In 2009 the cattle were described as "about 90 animals in Chillingham, which inhabit a very large park that has existed since the Middle Ages". The herd has remained remarkably genetically isolated for hundreds of years, surviving despite inbreeding depression due to the small population. There is also a small reserve herd of about 20 animals located on Crown Estate land near Fochabers, North East Scotland.
The Chillingham cattle are related to White Park cattle, in the sense that the Chillingham herd has contributed to the White Park, though there has been no gene flow the other way. Chillingham cattle are small, with upright horns in both males and females. Bulls weigh around 300 kg, cows about 280 kg. They are white with coloured ears (they may also have some colour on feet, nose and around the eyes). In the case of Chillingham cattle, the ear-colour is red – in most White Park animals the ears are black (which is genetically dominant over red in cattle). Chillingham cattle are of generally primitive conformation while White Parks are of classical British beef conformation. A brief review of academic studies on the Chillingham cattle is available.
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To many visitors, the most striking element of the historic habitat at Chillingham is the widespread occurrence of large oak trees amongst grassland (wood pasture), providing a glimpse of Britain as many think it appeared in medieval times. However, most of these trees were only planted in the 1780s - early 19th century, and the truly ancient trees of the park are the streamside alder trees, which were probably coppiced in the mid-18th century. They were probably hundreds of years old even then and the stems now growing are themselves around 250 years old. A diversity of plants and animals find a habitat here, due to the absence of the intensive farming found in most other places in Britain.
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Wikipedia