Word: moderners
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...roamed the European plains have been extinct since 1627, when the last survivor died in a Polish nature reserve. But this could soon change thanks to the work of European preservationists who are hoping they can make the great beast walk again. If they succeed - through a combination of modern genetic expertise and old-fashioned breeding - it would be the first time an animal has been brought back from extinction and released into the wild...
...tame descendants, domesticated cattle. Here's how the process is expected to work: Scientists will first scour old aurochs bone and teeth fragments from museums in order to glean enough genetic material to be able to recreate its DNA. Researchers will then compare the DNA to that of modern European cattle to determine which breeds still carry the creature's genes and create a selective-breeding program to reverse thousands of years of evolution. If everything goes as planned, each passing generation will more closely resemble the ancient aurochs. "Everything will be put together in a genetic mosaic," says Donato...
...Europe anymore," he says. His group has already introduced English Exmoor ponies - the closest living representatives of the wild horses painted alongside aurochs on cave walls - to the Netherlands' nature reserves. "You could also talk about recreating the giant deer," Kerkdijk says. "But there, we don't have a modern animal to work from." (See the top 10 animal stories...
That's not the only obstacle. Recreating the aurochs from modern cattle won't work if any of its DNA was lost as breeds split apart, experts say. And it will take a lot of time. "The only way we can make recombinations is by having the animals produce a new generation," says van Arendonk. "It's still a very open question if it all can be done...
...human-rights group. "Certainly looking at it from the outside, at case after case of heavy sentences being handed down for things that should be constitutionally protected rights, it's hard to come away from this and not see a hardening line." (See pictures of the making of modern China...