Matadors are not being cloned yet…

Some producers are simply irreplaceable for animal husbandry, including for such a pretentious branch of it as the cultivation of bulls for bullfighting. Therefore, it is not surprising that Vitoriano del Rio, a well–known Spanish breeder and owner of a bull breeding farm, decided to clone his best producer, a bull named Alcalde, Alcalde (Spanish alcalde - mayor), whose sons have been driving bullfighters around the arena for many years, before than to die for the amusement of the most respectable public.

Since 1994, when the Mayor was two years old, 30-40 calves were born from him. Now it's time for him to retire: 16 years for a bull is a respectable age. Therefore, when Vitoriano met the director of the Texas company ViaGen Jose Cordoba at a conference in Mexico City, they quickly agreed. In March, the company's specialists, who already have experience in cloning bulls and stallions, will take a piece of skin from the Mayor, isolate the nuclei from her cells and inject them into cow eggs. (The somatic cell nucleus transfer method – PYASK – has been known for more than 10 years, since the birth of the unforgettable Dolly.) A year later, in March 2009, they intend to get several exact copies of the champion – only 17 years younger.

Cloning a bull costs about 12,000 euros. Given the fact that the owners consider the Mayor priceless and would not sell him for any money, this is not so much. They hope that scientists will be able to raise two or three calves. The best of them can be left on the farm, and the rest can be sent to the arena.

Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru according to The Independent

26.02.2008