Jump to content

Endangered cow cloned in Brazil

From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Brazil — The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Embrapa, which is linked to the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, has created two clones from a Junqueira cow. The Junqueira is an endangered species. It is estimated that there are less than 100 of them on Brazilian territory.

The cloned calves were created using cells from the ear of a nine year old cow. The first clone, called "Porã" was born on April 10, weighing 55 lbs. (25 kg), after 292 days of gestation. "Potira", the second cloned calf was born, weighing 64 lbs. (29 kg), on April 24, after a 290-day gestation period. The clones are healthy, and are being monitored by Embrapa researchers.

The breed Junqueira is popular for meat and milk production. In addition, they are used as work animals. The first cows were brought to Brazil by Spanish and Portuguese settlers. The breed developed inside São Paulo, during the 18th and 19th centuries. The cows' long horns are their most prominent identifying characteristic. The horns were originally used to make "berrante", a Brazilian instrument used by cowboys to call cattle.

The Embrapa researcher, Arthur da Silva Mariante said that the research will continue and that other wild animals threatened by extinction may also be cloned.

The clones are part of the doctorate thesis of Lílian Iguma, a member of the research team.

Sources

Share this:  E-mail this story Share on Facebook Share on reddit.com Share on LinkedIn.com Share on twitter.com


This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
Retrieved from "https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Endangered_cow_cloned_in_Brazil&oldid=4817218"