Indian scientists clone buffalo

INDIA: Scientists in the Indian state of Haryana have cloned a buffalo using foetal tissue, a report said Sunday.

The female calf named Garima weighed 43 kilograms (95 pounds) and was born at the National Dairy Research Institute in the city of Karnal in northern India, according to the Hindu newspaper.

“Garima is absolutely healthy and we are fully optimistic about her survival,” institute director A.K. Srivastava was quoted as saying. India cloned the world’s first buffalo in February, but it died of pneumonia within a week of its birth.

Scientists cloned Garima using tissue from a foetus as part of a “hand-guided cloning technique” which allows the sex of the calf to be chosen.

New Delhi, Sunday, AFP