Everywhere they appear, these giant mascots draw admiring crowds ... the world’s largest talking cow, which lives in Neillsville, Wis. There’s a giant strawberry above Strawberry Point ...

These days, every disease has its animal mascot: There’s the civet for SARS, the chicken for the avian flu, the prairie dog for monkeypox, and, of course, the cow for mad cow disease (also known ...