A biotechnology company in China presents a cloned horse they 'created' to the public. It is the first clone horse of its kind to be born in the country and approved for equestrian sport.
To note, since the early 2000s, cloning of horses for competition and thoroughbred horses has been practiced in several countries, especially for genetic improvement.
This one horse was born in June 2022 from a surrogate mother horse. Zhuang Zhuang, as the horse is known, was 'produced' by Beijing-based laboratory Sinogene. He is a clone of a horse imported from Germany.
This black horse is the first of the "warm-blooded" breed group born in China, and is officially approved by the China Horse Industry Association. Warm blooded horses are generally light horses with lively temperaments.
As quoted by VOA, equestrian sports, especially show jumping, have developed rapidly in China in recent years. However, the country lacked high-performance horses.
"I talked to equestrian athletes participating in the Olympics. They all have more than one horse, usually two or three. Each horse costs from a few million to 10 million yuan," said CEO of Sinogene, Mi Jidong.
"Cloning can help reduce the cost of breeding and raising horses," he continued.
He added that producing competitive horses in China by cloning is expected to reduce dependence on expensive imported animals that supply Chinese equestrian sport.
Sinogene's success has set a new record in the horse industry not only in China, but also in the world. World's first cloned horse, born in Italy in 2003.
Previously, Sinogene had made significant progress in the cloning industry. In recent years, their much more mature technology has produced clones of sheep, cows, pigs, dogs and cats.