Cloned rare ox dies

The world's first cloned gaur, an endangered species of ox, was born to a surrogate cow mother last week. Scientists at US biotech firm Advanced Cell Technologies (ACT) created Noah by fusing the genetic information of a gaur with a donor cow egg stripped of its own DNA: the 'Dolly' technique. Noah was the only live birth resulting from 692 of these 'cell nuclear transfer' procedures, but although initially healthy, he died of a common form of bovine dysentery within 48 hours.

Robert Lanza of ACT said that the birth of Noah, the first animal born through cross-species cloning, was still grounds for hope. 'We still have a long way to go, but as this new technology evolves, it has the potential to save dozens of endangered species' he said. But some scientists believe that cloning technology is too expensive to be widely used in this way. 'Cloning could be an adjunct to conservation programmes' says Grahame Bulfield, director of the Roslin Institute in Scotland. 'But you really need to improve your management of the reproduction of endangered species' he told New Scientist.

Noah was cloned using DNA taken from the cells of a dead adult male guar, stored for eight years in the San Diego 'Frozen Zoo'. ACT now plans to work with Spanish scientists to try to clone the bucardo, an extinct species of mountain goat. The last known surviving specimen was killed last year by a falling tree, but the team will attempt to resurrect the species using frozen female bucardo cells.