Scientists breathe brave new life into `dead’ Gaur

The cloned gaur is expected to be born next month. This would be the first time that genetic material from a dead animal has been retrieved and brought back to life. Researchers could literally resurrect extinct animals or for that matter even long dead humans if human cloning ever became legal. All the boffins need is a very tiny amount of the complete genetic material.

Probably realising the God-like role they are playing, the researchers have already named the embryo `Noah’, after the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark. The same group of researchers also wants to undertake the cloning of giant pandas, using black bears as the surrogate mother.

These finding may give a boost to the efforts being made by an Indian researcher Dr. Lalji Singh, director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, who has proposed that he could in principle be able to clone and bring back to life right in India the now extinct Indian cheetah, using the leopard as a surrogate mother. Singh says all he requires is a pair of living Asiatic Cheetahs, which are still found wild in parts of Iran. This ambitious proposal is awaiting clearance within the long-winding portals of the Indian government.

The highly endangered Gaur is found over wide areas in jungles. A full grown animal can weigh up to 900 kg, and it looks like a hybrid between a cow and a buffalo. Some researchers have already expressed apprehensions of using closely related species for the purposes of cloning since it could lead to the same problems that inter-species transplantation of organs poses, which is the transfer of new diseases between different species.