After somehow vomiting up the word 'Auroch' on Brit's Blog, I thought that I should have a little look-see to find out about our moribund bovine chums- and I got more than I bargained for!

Apparently Aurochs were around up to renaissance times, dwindling in numbers until the last one popped his chitinous clogs in Poland in 1627. Interestingly, historians speculate that the vicious nature of the bulls was a main contributing factor in their demise, as to kill one in caveman times was considered an act of extreme bravery, so consequently every spotty herbert with a wispy moustache and a spear went off looking to kill as many stupid lumps of beef as he could.

The bit that I found quite interesting was where the story emerged of the Auroch becoming a Nazi Cow. Apparently in the 1920's in Germany, The Heck brothers, working in Berlin and Munich zoos, decided to 'breed back' the Auroch by mixing up parts of every cow they could think of with remnants of the Auroch's blood in it. This breeding programme was picked up by the Nazis, who were keen to promote anything that harked back to an imaginary Aryan elysium, and liked the idea of racially pure supermeganazicows.

After the war, the breeding programme was disbanded as people didnt really like the thought of Nazi cows, and many scientists rejected the idea of 'breeding back' an extinct animal as unsound. However, some Heck Cattle lived on and the breeding progamme was picked up again and slowly but surely the Auroch is coming back in a revised form, like in the picture above. In a way the Vesta Curry of cows, they are now referred to as Reconstituted Aurochs

I for one look forward to eating one with some chips and ketchup as soon as possible.