Garlic 2.0 Is Chinas First Cloned Kitten

Sinogene

Huang Yu was devastated when his beloved two-and-a-half-year-old kitten Garlic passed away, so he decided to make another.

The heartbroken pet owner enlisted the help of Sinogene, a Bejing-based pet cloning company which has already cloned more than 40 pet dogs, including the worlds first police pup, IFL Science reports.

It uses somatic cell cloning techniques of animal species to recreate peoples beloved pets, however theres said to be a number of challenges when it comes to cloning felines.

Sinogen

As per IFL Science, vet Shi Zhensheng said in a statement:

The reproductive and physiological characteristics of cats are different from those of most animals. Because cats are not spontaneous ovulation animals, they are one of the few ovulation-inducing animals.

Their reproductive cycle is special and cloning techniques are difficult. The operation is cumbersome. This successful cultivation of cloned cats is one of the few successful cases in the world, marking Chinas major step in the field of cloning.

It took nearly a year of attempts, but eventually, the scientists were able to transfer an embryo to a surrogate cat, who carried the developing kitten for 66 days.

On July 21 of this year, Garlic 2.0, whose genetics are completely derived from the somatic cells of the late Garlic, was born.

Sinogen

Just over a month later, Garlic 2.0 is said to be in a good physical condition and doesnt seem to act differently to any naturally bred kittens.

However, replicating his female friend came at a pretty hefty price tag for Yu, who paid a whopping 250,000 yuan ($35,000), according to reports in Agence France-PrRead More – Source