February 06, 2010

First the Aurochs, then the Cave Bear



Italian scientists plan to re-create the extinct giant bovine aurochs.

"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."


I suppose Ted Turner would want a few on his ranches. Maybe he could buy a new spread in Poland for his aurochs herd.

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