The world without...cows

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The world without...cows

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Cows near a road

Life as we know it is built on a series of seemingly insignificant elements - things that we often take for granted, if we think about them at all.

In a brand new series, called The World Without... Fred Dove examines the consequences of removing just one of those insignificant elements, and discovers some surprising possibilities.

What would this mean for daily life around the world? What might we be using instead today?

The first programme in the series, The World Without...Cows, considers the value to global society of all things bovine.

What would our world be like if early man had not domesticated the fearsome aurochs - the likely ancestors of all modern domesticated breeds of cattle?

Fred discovers just how important cows have been to religion, to medicine and indeed to civilisation all around the world, and examines the bovine link with global warming.

What is the future of our cattle? Could we face a future without cows?

First broadcast on 7 November 2008

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