Here's Bessie, waiting to give birth to the baby gaur. Bessie may look like any regular cow living on a farm in Iowa, but she has some great expectations. If the birth is successful, the baby gaur, which has already been named Noah, will be the first clone of an endangered species.
Genes contain the chemical instructions, or recipe, for each living thing.
After helplessly watching for years as species became extinct, scientists are hopeful that this method will provide a new way to preserve many of the world's fastest-disappearing species. Gaurs, most of which are found in India, Bangladesh and Southeast Asia, are closely related to cows. If Bessie's gaur arrives safely, ACT plans to try to clone a Spanish bucardo, an extinct goatlike animal. The last surviving Spanish bucardo died last year after being hit by a falling tree. But cells containing bucardo genes that have been preserved by freezing could bring the species back to life.