UAE scientists have succeeded in cloning world’s second camel, which they claimed is the first to be reproduced from the cells of a living animal.
The news comes within a year of the birth of the first cloned camel in the city.
According to Camel Reproduction Centre (CRC), the world’s second cloned camel, a male calf named Bin Soughan, was born on February 23 at 3 am after an uncomplicated gestation of 383 days.
He was cloned from cells harvested from the skin of an elite bull, the first time a camel has been reproduced from the cells of a living animal, the centre said.
Injaz, the world’s first cloned camel, was produced from the ovarian cell of a camel that was slaughtered for its meat.
She will be one-year old on Thursday.
On April 14 last year, Injaz, or ‘achievement’, was unveiled alongside her surrogate mother five days after being born at the CRC.
“The ability of skin cells to reprogramme and develop into an embryo has made the process of cloning camels easier as skin cells are easy to obtain in contrast to reproductive tissue,” Head of the Reproductive Biology Laboratory at the CRC, Nizar Ahmad Wani said.
“This will help us in the amelioration and preservation of genetically valuable animals like high milk producers, racing champions and males of high genetic merit,” he added.
The centre had another success in 2008 when identical twin camel calves, Zahi and Bahi, were born. They were produced using a technique called embryo micro-manipulation.
The CRC was founded 21 years ago and is supported and financed by Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
