CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- The endangered cattle species on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, Camphor Wood Cattle and Apei Jiaza Cattle, have recently been successfully cloned in Yunyang, Chongqing. These are the world’s first cloned endangered cattle species on the snow-capped plateau, and also the first cloned cattle in southwest China.

The above news was announced at the promotion meeting for the urgent protection of Camphor Wood Cattle and Apei Jiaza Cattle by the project team for the urgent protection and traits evaluation of Xizang's endangered cattle resources in Yunyang on January 29.

We must not let the extinction of endangered cattle on the snow-covered plateau happen. The relevant departments of China and the governments of Tibet and Chongqing have decided to implement urgent protection for Camphor Wood Cattle and Apei Jiaza Cattle in the state of extinction using living object protection, somatic cell preservation, and cloning technologies in July 2022. Three months later, the project titled Urgent Protection and Trait Evaluation of Endangered Cattle Resources in Xizang was approved and a research team led by Professor Wang Yachun of China Agricultural University was set up to solve technical problems for the cloning of plateau cattle, such as living object protection, somatic cell preservation, and cloning technologies from 2023 to 2025. In 2022, the research team, together with the Chongqing Academy of Animal Sciences and Chongqing Jinxia Animal Husbandry Co., LTD., set up a technical team to carry out the cloning embryo transfer project for Camphor Wood Cattle and Apei Jiaza Cattle at the Chongqing High-quality Beef Cattle Breeding Farm.

The research team has made significant progress in living object protection, precise identification, resource characteristic exploration, somatic cell preservation, cloning, and restoration, said the team. As of today, four heads of Camphor Wood Cattle and four heads of Apei Jiaza Cattle have been successfully cloned at the Chongqing High-quality Beef Cattle Breeding Farm.

Two heads of cloned Camphor Wood Cattle and two heads of cloned Apei Jiaza Cattle are scheduled to be sent back to the origin of Xizang between July and August to satisfy the urgent need for seed conservation.

The remaining cloned cattle will be raised at the Chongqing High-quality Beef Cattle Breeding Farm until they reach adulthood. The genetic materials of the adult cattle, such as semen, will be collected and frozen for preservation. (Translated by Yuki, Fathom Language Limited)