Moof! Remembering Clarus the DogCow

Longtime Macintosh users certainly remember Clarus the DogCow, a quirky and unusual component of the original Mac OS. Clarus is a hybrid digital entity falling somewhere between a Dog and a Cow (aka DogCow). She was born in 1983 in Apple’s labs during the Macintosh creation, as a character in the Cairo font designed by Susan Kare. In 1986 she mutated with System 5 to become the bitmapped creature that displays print setting options for the LaserWriter.

In 1989 a legendary and tongue-in-cheek Apple developer document, DTS TechNote #31, officially recognized this critter as “Clarus the Dogcow” and she soon became the mascot of the DTS Team:

“The dogcow has no natural enemies, but the meager population manages to keep itself in check through its own stupidity. They have a nasty tendency to graze off cliffs (in fact, there are no known “cliff-dwelling dogcows” left in existence) and to get lost in the weeds.” (DTS TechNote #31)

Clarus has the ability to flip, invert, shrink to fit or do a “precision alignment”. Her vocalization combines the moo of the cow with the woof of the dog, resulting in the unmistakable moof sound we all know and love.

Clarus was the star of some of the first QuickTime movies made in Apple’s labs. In 1993 Apple installed sculptures on their campus depicting celebrated icons from original Mac OS, and many Apple employees took pictures of themselves with the famous DogCow.

“Since dogcows are two dimensional, they will stand facing a viewer “on edge” to avoid being seen […] The reason that the dogcow can invert has to do with the fact that it’s genes have about as much order as the crowd at a Sex Pistols concert.” (DTS TechNote #31)

Clarus was sacrified to the cause of modernity when Mac OS X appeared, but she nevertheless remains a beloved memory of 8 bit days gone by. More information can be found at the comprehensive Clarus the DogCow: Moof Museum or the archived Apple Developer Connection (ADC) site A Nest of Dogcattle (via Archive.org)