Science and Health

Fighting bull cloned for 1st time in Spain

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-05-20 09:50

MELGAR DE YUSO, Spain - Scientists in Spain say they have cloned a fighting bull for the first time.

Got, the country's first cloned Spanish fighting bull, is seen hours after being born at a ranch in Melgar de Yuso, northern Spain, on Wednesday, May 19, 2010. A dairy cow has given birth to a calf which should be an exact genetical replica of a ferocious, hefty beast of the type faced in bullrings by matadors. [Agencies]

Vicente Torrent, a specialist in veterinary genetics, says the newborn calf, named Got, is an exact replica of a muscular, horned specimen of the type matadors face in bullrings.

Torrent says his 17-man team is hopeful Got will exhibit the same fierce traits that made his genetic predecessor, Vasito, such a valuable specimen.

Animal cloning began in 1996 with Dolly the sheep. Torrent said it took three years of work to devise a means of preserving what he called valuable bull genes.