Dibs on the Porterhouse.
Posted on 01/18/2010 6:38:36 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
Aurochs were immortalised in prehistoric cave paintings and admired for their brute strength and "elephantine" size by Julius Caesar.
But despite their having gone the way of the dodo and the woolly mammoth, there are plans to bring the giant animals back to life.
The huge cattle with sweeping horns which once roamed the forests of Europe have not been seen for nearly 400 years.
Now Italian scientists are hoping to use genetic expertise and selective breeding of modern-day wild cattle to recreate the fearsome beasts which weighed around 2,200lb and stood 6.5 feet at the shoulder.
Breeds of large cattle which most closely resemble Bos primigenius, such as Highland cattle and the white Maremma breed from Italy, are being bred with each other in a technique known as "back-breeding".
At the same time, scientists say they have for the first time created a map of the auroch's genome, so that they know precisely what type of animal they are trying to replicate.
"We were able to analyse auroch DNA from preserved bone material and create a rough map of its genome that should allow us to breed animals nearly identical to aurochs," said team leader Donato Matassino, head of the Consortium for Experimental Biotechnology in Benevento, in the southern Campania region.
"We've already made our first round of crosses between three breeds native to Britain, Spain and Italy. Now we just have to wait and see how the calves turn out."
The last animal disappeared from the British Isles in the Iron Age and the breed was declared extinct in 1627 after a female died in the forests of Poland.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Ah, no. Too much methane. Not green.
Wow! Imagine the huge cow farts these beasts will produce. The global warming freaks will go nuts!
from "Land of Giants", The New Christy Minstrels
Imagine the huge steaks on my grill!
Dibs on the Porterhouse.
Yes, but are they tasty?
I just saw one on another post...her name was “Mo’Nique”
Speaking of cows, I recently dreamt I had a pet one that acted just like a golden retriever. Can't wait until they breed those.
Aurochs? Big deal. I want them to bring back T-Rex, or any other dino.
I want a wooly mammoth.
Can they bring back the Mammoth too with Elephants
On the other hand Mickey-D’s should be pleased!
I’m pretty tolerant of my neighbor’s cattle getting through the fence and grazing in my bean field, but I’d have to draw the line with these bad boys.
You beat me to it, LOL!
“Here we come on the run with a burger on a bun...” LOL!
remember Dash Riprock? And of course, Kazoo.
Two bulls were in the field when a trailer pulled up with the new bull.An old bull and a young bull.
The new bull was huge and mean.
The old bull looked at the new bull and said: “He looks like a nice feller, he can have some of my cows”.
The young bull started pawing the ground, snorting, and tossing his head.
The old bull said “are you nuts? look at the size of him boy. The young bull replied “I have and I want him to know I’m a bull”.
When I saw the thread title, I was hoping this would be about the aurochs. Very cool!
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