Still Waters Posted January 18, 2010 #1 Share Posted January 18, 2010 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. Read more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojiva Posted January 18, 2010 #2 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Sounds rly cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piney Posted January 18, 2010 #3 Share Posted January 18, 2010 I agree with one counter-point in the argument. If they have the tempers of their descendants, Mexican and Spanish fighting bulls, they are in for a handfull. Lapiche Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littlehawk Posted January 19, 2010 #4 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Why would any so-called intelligent Human bring an animal back to life that is now extinct? Natural selection plays a huge role in determining what and who can survive in a given environment! We are messing around with things that should not be messed around with. Intelligence my A$$.... true intelligence is knowing our place within the animal kingdom and living WITH nature, not above it. Knowledge is only powerful if you know when to stop. I need some pepto.... between this and the "burpless sheep", I feel some heartburn coming on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Greenman Posted January 19, 2010 #5 Share Posted January 19, 2010 I bet they would get some mighty big steaks out of them. I don't see how they would be worth breeding. They would eat a lot and like they say they would be hard to take care of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaneSilvermoon Posted January 19, 2010 #6 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Why would any so-called intelligent Human bring an animal back to life that is now extinct? Natural selection plays a huge role in determining what and who can survive in a given environment! We are messing around with things that should not be messed around with. Intelligence my A$$.... true intelligence is knowing our place within the animal kingdom and living WITH nature, not above it. Knowledge is only powerful if you know when to stop. I need some pepto.... between this and the "burpless sheep", I feel some heartburn coming on. Domestic selection has been playing an even larger role in many places. Causing the extinction of likely thousands of species against the will of natural selection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral Danger Posted January 19, 2010 #7 Share Posted January 19, 2010 bring on the meat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guyver Posted January 19, 2010 #8 Share Posted January 19, 2010 I think it's fascinating that these animals were known as recently as 400 years ago. Usually, one associates animals painted on cave walls with the Pleistocene megafauna. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoIverine Posted January 19, 2010 #9 Share Posted January 19, 2010 I bet they would get some mighty big steaks out of them. I don't see how they would be worth breeding. They would eat a lot and like they say they would be hard to take care of. That's what I was thinking, giant assed steaks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Supertypo Posted January 20, 2010 #10 Share Posted January 20, 2010 God....how I love science Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryinrea Posted January 20, 2010 #11 Share Posted January 20, 2010 (edited) God....how I love science God, I love science as well. We can do great things with this. Edited January 20, 2010 by Ryinrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siara Posted January 20, 2010 #12 Share Posted January 20, 2010 I bet they would get some mighty big steaks out of them. LOL. That was my first reaction too. I think reviving any extinct species is absolutely wonderful. It means that if we screw things up ecologically and knock off some species, we now have a chance to resurrect them. Take the polar bears. If we don't act decisively about global warming they're going to die. But we CAN'T act decisively now because a large segment of the public doesn't believe in global warming. I personally think many of them WILL when they get more data that they trust (foot note*). But by then there could be no more polar bears. And yet... we now have the ability to resurrect the polar bear! One less tragic ecological loss. foot note* (Of course, maybe I'll be the one to change my opinion when we get more data.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isensee Posted January 20, 2010 #13 Share Posted January 20, 2010 I wonder what else we could bring back into existence... *thinks Jurassic Park* No matter how you look at it, the news is fascinating. The mere fact that we can bring back something long gone. Somewhat feels like playing God here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alien Being Posted January 20, 2010 #14 Share Posted January 20, 2010 I dont understand why we dont practise eugenics with people too. A race of einsteins would advance society at an alarming rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeistOnerz Posted January 20, 2010 #15 Share Posted January 20, 2010 (edited) I dont understand why we dont practise eugenics with people too. A race of einsteins would advance society at an alarming rate. i think that eugenics with people would cause more problems than good. only just my opinion. Edited January 20, 2010 by GeistOnerz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiffSplitkins Posted January 20, 2010 #16 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siara Posted January 21, 2010 #17 Share Posted January 21, 2010 I was reading the article and it says they plan to breed back to the natural animal (the auroch). If they just became extinct 400 years ago why don't scientists take auroch DNA and put it into a fertilized cow egg and then reimplant the egg in the uterus of a large cow? They've got the technology and it seems like they'd save a heck of a lot of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brlesq1 Posted January 27, 2010 #18 Share Posted January 27, 2010 Michael Crichton, anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goblin-5 Posted January 28, 2010 #19 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Hmmmmm... in Manfred von Richtofens autobiography he describes a hunting party with I think a mamber of the royal family in Germany where he says he shot an aurochs in a private hunting preserve. Anyone know about that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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