Within 12 hours of birth, Noah was able to stand unaided and began an inquisitive search of his new surroundings. But at 1 day old, Noah began to exhibit symptoms of a common infection, and succumbed to it despite our treatment efforts. His mother, Bessie, the domestic cow, remains healthy. The gaur is a large wild ox species, which is generally brown or black with a humplike ridge on its back and with white or yellow stockings on all four legs. Adult males have shoulder heights of 5.6-7.2 feet and weigh up to 2,200 pounds.
Females are about one-third smaller than males.
Males and females both have horns, which are flattened at the base, strongly curved and sweep backward and inward. Hunted for sport for generations and with reduced natural habitats in its homelands in India, Indochina and Southeast Asia, the species is now on the list of endangered species. ACT elected to use the animal because it has had previous success cloning domestic cows, which are closely related to the gaur. The cells from which Noah was created originated from a male gaur that died of natural causes at 5 years of age. Eight years later the cells were thawed, and cloned using cross-species cloning.