All modern, domesticated cattle are descended from the mighty auroch, an extinct prehistoric "cow" that stood six feet at the shoulder—the last of which died in 1627 in a wildlife reserve in Poland.
Scientists are in the process of trying to back-breed the auroch into existence, using scraps of DNA from preserved bones, comparing it with the DNA of modern cattle, etc, until they create a genetic match. Amazing. Read about this process with the auroch and other extinct species here. I guess Jurassic Park was just a few years ahead of its time. (Picture borrowed from Wikipedia.)
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