Biological Times: Copies, Originals and the Construction of a Rare Breed Our paper emerges from a protracted, speculative discussion of genes, evolution and the writing of history, as well as a more limited empirical investigation of increased public interest in animal breeds on the verge of extinction. We focus on the Norfolk Horn sheep, and argue that there are features to debates over the nature of the breed, whether the breed is extinct or not, and whether its ​contemporary ​exemplars are no different to those that came before, that are important to contemporary understanding of life, time and the organism.