January 16, 2001
1 min read
Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAmCLONING UPDATE: Endangered Gaur Dies
By Kristin Leutwyler
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Last week, an ordinary cow named Bessie gave birth to a remarkable baby bull, Noah. The 80-pound newborn was a gaur, an endangered type of wild ox from India, Indochina and Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, Noah succumbed to common dysentery within 48 hours, but his short life marks a major achievement for the researchers at Advanced Cell Technology who cloned him. In the experiment, they introduced genetic material from the skin cells of an adult male gaur into 692 hollowed egg cells from cows. Only one cell¿the one that developed into Noah¿actually took. The scientists do not think the cloning technique had anything to do with Noah's untimely demise. Thus, future work may produce cross-species clones of other gaurs, not to mention such rare creatures as black bears, panda bears, bongo antelope and bucardo mountain goats.
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