Doctors would be concerned about the length of time cloned cells might survive once inside the body. The new bull calf was cloned from tissue taken from the ear of a calf last April when that animal was itself only four months old. The genetic material was fused with an unfertilised egg that had been stripped of its nucleus and placed in the womb of a surrogate cow. The primary purpose of the Kagoshima institute's project is to produce tasty beef. Our objective is to produce good cattle consistently,'' said Norio Tabara.
Cloning also reduces the amount of time needed for reproduction.
The tissues of an animal as young as three months can be used for cloning, while cows do not mate naturally until they are about 14 months old. Another second-generation clone is due in late March, the researchers said.