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World's first cloned Boer goat born in Tianjin
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-11-03 14:09
The world's first Boer goat cloned from embryonic cells was born Wednesday in
north China's port city of Tianjin, said Chinese scientists engaged in the
cloning program.
The cloned lamb was born at 9:05 a.m. Wednesday at the Tianjin veterinary
research institute, a research body that has been engaged in the embryo cloning
project since 2002.
"The birth of the cloned lamb has laid a solid basis for us to further
exploit the cloning technology to boost the animal husbandry, biomedicine and
pharmaceutical industries," said Ding Boliang, head of the institute.
His organization introduced more than 300 purebread Boer goats for the
cloning program in 2002 and has since built a genetic database of the goats.
Boer goat, a species originating in South Africa, grows extremely fast and
yields more mutton than ordinary goats or sheep. An adult Boer goat weighs about
100 kilograms and can provide more than 40 kilograms of mutton.
Experts say the goat brings more than delicious dishes to the Chinese dinner
table -- it may also help millions of redundant rural laborers make a
living.
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