WORLD'S FIRST CLONED CAMEL BORN IN DUBAI - REPORT

By Muin Abdul Majid

DUBAI, April 14 (Bernama) -- Dubai has the distinction of being the birth
place of the world's first cloned camel, according to a report.

"We are all very excited at the birth of Injaz as she is the result of
great skill and team work of everyone at the Camel Reproduction Centre (CRC),"
Gulf News daily quoted CRC scientific director Dr Lulu Skidmore, as saying.

Injaz (or achievement in Arabic) was born at the CRC on Wednesday.

The newspaper reported that the female calf was created from cumulus cells
harvested from the ovary of a female adult camel, which were grown in culture
before being frozen in liquid nitrogen.

The CRC team in charge of the project said the camel was born after an
uncomplicated gestation period of 378 days, with Injaz currently weighing 30kg.

The newspaper said DNA analysis showed that the animal was indeed a clone
of the original female camel.

"This significant breakthrough gives a means of preserving the valuable
genetics of our elite racing and milk-producing camels in the future," Dr
Skidmore told the daily.

The world's first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell was Dolly the
Sheep, which was produced in 1996 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
-- BERNAMA