Canadian researchers have cloned a
male calf from the cells of Canada's world-renowned
Starbuck Holstein Bull,
which sired more than 200,000 offspring! This, now 3 years after the controversial ground-breaking cloning experiment in
1997 that produced
Dolly The Sheep,
now happily living in Scotland, and who gave birth to lambs for the 3rd consecutive spring this year.The original Starbuck died at the age of 20 in 1998. He was famous for his sturdy dairy frame and his superb feet and legs. As a result, his frozen sperm was sold in more than 70 countries, and extended the genetic line of this near-perfect specimen of a bull beyond his natural lifespan.
This clone, temporarily known as Starbuck 2, was born on September 7th 2000 and weighed 55 kilograms (120 pounds) at birth.