France's dying cockerel given fighting chance of survival

The Telegraph ^ | 08/11/2004 | Henry Samuel

[ijcr]

Scientists have taken action to save France's feathered national emblem, le coq gaulois, by cryogenically preserving the endangered cockerel's sperm.

Panic set in when it was disclosed that only 200 individuals remained, mostly owned by amateur breeders.

The brightly coloured cockerel, one of France's oldest native animal species, is synonymous with French fighting spirit – at times arrogance – and is famously unleashed on to the football pitch before games involving the national side. Due to a semantic crossover, the Latin word gallus means both cockerel and Gaul and it has come to stand as a symbol of France's distant ancestors.

Scientists at the national agronomic research institute, Inra, have spent two years on a bird hunt for the last surviving individuals from the dying breed.

They concluded that the safest way to avert its extinction was to create a "brave new bird world" by preserving the cockerel's genetic heritage using the latest cryogenic technology.

"We took their eggs, vaccinated them, then brought up the chicks," said Elisabeth Blesbois, a scientist at Inra.

"Then we removed their sperm and froze it at minus 196 degrees," she added.

"We can now reconstitute the bird line if it encounters problems, such as an epidemic. By successive cross-breeding with regular hens, we can bring the race back from the brink in just a few years."

Now that the cryogenic techniques have improved, the scientists intend to preserve specimens of all endangered species this way.

Beside its symbolic qualities, the French cockerel is sought after for its brilliant red and gold plumage. But connoisseurs say its taste is disappointing.

[Capn TrVth]

"Scientists have taken action to save France's feathered national emblem, le coq gaulois, by cryogenically preserving the endangered cockerel's sperm. "


-Let's just hope they don't get any bright ideas with Arafat ;>

[Temple Owl]

A chicken that is surrendering.

[freebilly]

The French Coq does not taste like chicken.

Of course not-- I hear that French Coq tastes like frog....

[Defiant]

Why do you laugh at the term "French fighting spirit"? The chicken is the perfect symbol for that. They, like the French, wait til your back is turned, sneak up and peck at you until you are so annoyed, you turn and swat at them. Then they run away squawking, hide under a bush, and plot their next attempt to get you.

Mmmmmm, France. Fights like chicken.

[CWOJackson]

Their chicken is in "a very complex state".

[Cobra64]

What's all the hub-aBubba here?. Send in Slick and Monica. They are experts on Coq. A blue dress and a DNA kit should work it out. When done, rinse thoroughly.

[asgardshill]

Yum.

[Cobra64]

"Then we removed their sperm...." she added.

Hmmmm. Guess you have to be French.....?

[Khurkris]

An interesting old French poster.

[KwasiOwusu]

French cockerel?
More like French chicken.
That is more in line with the French national character of surrender. :-)

[jrushing]

France's dying cockerel given fighting chance of survival

Is that a target on his wing?

[kitkat]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, cockeral! Now I know what you're talking about. I understand that's the Bald Eagle's favorite dish.

[marmar]

As a little girl I grew up on a farm and had a rooster that would always pick on me......until I knocked him out with a ladder. He never picked on me again.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I thought the French Cocks had been caponed years ago so they had to import Algerians to do the work.

[Old_Mil]

Perhaps the French should change their national emblem from the Coq to the Cocker Spaniel. Although I'm not sure that dogs as a species deserve so great an insult.

[Frank_2001]

The only French critters that won't immediately surrender are the chickens!;)

[MarineBrat]

Wait a minute, the French "NATIONAL EMBLEM" is a CHICKEN?!?!?!?!

I'd have never guessed.

[DreadCthulhu]

To be fair, in the past the French have shown a fair bit of military compentecy. Though as Joan of Arc & Napoleon show, the French can only achieve this when they are not being led by Frenchmen. Let us just hope with this whole European Union thing going on that no German or Finnish general learns to speak Frog. ;) And at least till WWI they had to willingness to stand fast for years of brutal trench warfare, though it does seem they lost the best of that generation; WWII was a disaster for them, though of course they got suprised by new tatics that even the Germans didn't seem to understand that well at first. Of course, if France had the balls to stand up to Germany while they were still weak in the mid '30s, WWII in Europe could have been adverted/altered significantly.

[syberghost]

You know, in that picture, there's a distinct streak of yellow on its back.

[dfwgator]

I thought the French national animal WAS a chicken

Or a frog.