The Change Mariner

China Clones Rare Wild Animal

Mercury News:

BEIJING - China announced Friday that its scientists had cloned a Siberian ibex, a threatened mammal that dwells in the crags of central Asia, in a feat sure to heighten debate over whether cloning can help reconstitute endangered species.

The week-old Siberian ibex is ``full of pep'' and ``exhibiting a strong will to survive,'' a state television newscast reported.

The mountain-goat-like Siberian ibex, which state television described as ``one of the most endangered animals in China,'' was born after cloned cells were placed in a common goat in western China.

China is seeking to rescue endangered and threatened species -- such as the giant panda and the rare freshwater white-flag dolphin -- through cloning, forestalling the threat of extinction, despite arguments from some experts that the high costs of cloning would be better spent on protecting animals in their native habitats.

State media said the Siberian ibex was born through "cross-species cloning technology,'' meaning scientists inserted a cell nucleus with intact DNA from the Siberian ibex into egg cells of normal goats, then implanted them in a surrogate goat mother.

"The result was an ibex embryo, now the baby ibex in the spotlight in northwest China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region,'' state television said.