UPDATE

DNA study
to be undertaken
by
OTSF

MALTA, OCT 2011 -

These noble oxen are believed to be descended directly from cattle brought to Malta more than six thousand years ago.  Although the last 100% cow has now passed away, her DNA has been preserved. 

In cooperation with the University of Malta, research is being continued by The OTS Foundation.  Samples will be sequenced as a first step in cementing the story of Mediterranean migration in prehistory.

A bas relief of one of Wenzu's ancestors
at Tarxien Megalithic Temples shows
characteristics that have remained
the same for 5,000 years. 

Back In 2000

Word reached The OTS Foundation
that an important bull was about
to be sent to the glue factory.

With a grant from OTSF,
Wenzu was purchased from the farmer
who owned the last cows,
and moved to the government farm
where an ongoing program of backbreeding
has now been established.

The Malta Cattle Foundation was a hastily formed body, backed by Malta's School of Medicine and the Department of OB/GYN. 

Wenzu's mother was one of three cows who were the last remaining descendents of cattle brought by Malta's first settlers in the Neolithic "Temple Period".    When it was discovered how close these animals were to extinction, doctors stepped in with an in-vitro fertilization, and were astonished by the results.   Wenzu looked exactly like his maternal grandsires.   It is believed that isolation on the islands kept the breed pure.  While people came and went over the centuries, the cattle would have remained a constant.

A study of bones and horns from sacrificial animals found inside the temples could help confirm direct descent from the earliest domesticated cattle in the Levant.

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