While a cloned banteng doesn’t look any different from a normal, non-clone banteng — they both look like mildly unusual cattle — I’d still like to swing by the San Diego Zoo. From Zoo to Take 1st Cloned Endangered Animal:
The world’s first clone of an endangered species is getting ready for his public debut at the San Diego Zoo.Jahava, an 8-month-old male banteng, was expected to be moved Thursday from the San Diego Wild Animal Park in north San Diego to the zoo, where he will share an area with three banteng females.
Jahava was cloned from skin cells collected from a male banteng born at the zoo in 1974 that never reproduced. A banteng is a form of wild cattle from Southeast Asia.
The cells were cultured by the Zoological Society of San Diego’s Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species and were stored in liquid nitrogen at minus 328 degrees. Last year, the cells were inserted into the egg of an Iowa cow.Although Jahava looks like a banteng, he has genetic material from the cow, zoo geneticist Oliver Ryder said. If Jahava mates with another banteng, the offspring is expected to be full banteng, he said.
In his new home from the zoo, Jahava will be the smallest of the banteng group for some time. He will be distinguishable by his thicker and slightly parted horns.
Jahava should have pure, bateng, nuclear DNA. The genetic material that came from the cow was the mitochondrial DNA from the egg — which comes completely from the mother’s side. Since Jahava is a male bateng, his offspring won’t inherit that cow DNA.