Cloning comes to the rescue of a Lady.In a last-ditch attempt to save an endangered en·dan·ger tr.v. en·dan·gered, en·dan·ger·ing, en·dan·gers 1. To expose to harm or danger; imperil. 2. To threaten with extinction. breed of cattle, scientists in New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. have cloned a cow named Lady. They plan someday to artificially inseminate in·sem·i·nate v. To introduce or inject semen into the reproductive tract of a female. in·sem  i·na her genetically identical calf, a 2-week-old female named Elsie, with sperm now frozen for storage. Until Elsie's birth, Lady was the last female survivor of the Enderby Island breed, which had been living in isolation on the icy island near New Zealand for more than a century. For several years, scientists tried to use in vitro fertilization in vitro fertilization (vē`trō, vĭ`trō), technique for conception of a human embryo outside the mother's body. Several ova, or eggs, are removed from the mother's body and placed in special laboratory culture dishes (Petri dishes); , but Lady only gave birth to a single bull. Worried about the cow's advancing age--she's now 7 years old--researchers decided to attempt to clone her using a technique similar to the one that created Dolly the sheep. Genetic tests have confirmed that Elsie is a clone of Lady. "With [Elsie's birth], we have vastly improved the chances of saving this endangered breed, which had adapted genetically to live in sub-Antarctic conditions," says David N. Wells of the Ruakura Research Center in Hamilton, New Zealand Hamilton (Kirikiriroa in Māori) is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and is the country's seventh largest city. It is in the Waikato region of the North Island, approximately 130 km south of Auckland. , who led the cloning effort. |
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