Jaguars and monkeys to be cloned in Brazil

[Noentry Profile]

Scientists in Brazil are to clone wild animals, including the jaguar and breeds of monkey, wolf and deer, to try to save them from extinction.



Experts at Brasilia Zoo, who have already successfully cloned cows and horses, are hoping to start creating their first copy of a wild animal next month.

The eight at-risk species chosen are the jaguar, the maned wolf, the black lion tamarin monkey, the bush dog, the collared anteater, the gray brocket deer, the Brazilian aardvark and the bison.

Most are on the red list of threatened species compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

If it succeeds, the project is expected to be one of the first to produce a clone of a big cat. There are around 15,000 jaguars left in its natural habitat of North and South America, according to conservation experts.

Researchers have spent the last two years painstakingly gathering more than 400 genetic samples of the species from dead animals they found in the Brazilian outback.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildli ... razil.html

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