China to Try Cloning of Rare Monkeys
11/25/97
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Headline: China to Try Cloning of Rare Monkeys
Source: Agence France-Presse
Date: 11/25/97
Copyright 1997 by Agence France-Presse
BEIJING, Nov 25 (AFP) - Chinese scientists plan to try to
clone monkeys on the brink of extinction, state media reports said
Tuesday.
The attempt will be to save the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, also
known as the golden monkey, according to a People's Daily article
quoted by the official Xinhua news agency.
It said scientists at the Kunming Zoological Research Institute,
in the southwestern province of Yunan, "are using advanced
technology to research hereditary features of the primate in
preparation for the cloning."
Researchers at the institute, under the Chinese Academy of
Sciences, have bred 13 such monkeys in captivity since 1994 with the
aid of reproductive research, the report said.
Special reserves have also been set up. "However, we are still
facing problems, such as damage to the monkey's habitats caused by
excessive lumbering and a shortage of research funds," said Ji
Weizhi, director of the institute, explaining the need to clone.
Cloning has again become the subject of international debate
since British scientists last year cloned Dolly the sheep from a
living adult animal.