India to clone cheetah

HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - Indian scientists plan to clone an Iranian cheetah to revive a species that became extinct in India more than four decades ago, an expert said on Friday, in what would be the country's first animal cloning bid.

A team of scientists would soon travel to Iran, one of a handful of countries that still have cheetahs, to collect sperm and tissue samples from a cheetah in a zoo there, said Lalji Singh, director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.

"The Iranian government has agreed to support the project, which assumes importance as the Indian cheetah is extinct now," said S. Shivaji, a deputy director at the centre.

Cheetahs are the fastest animals on earth with a speed of up to 95 km an hour. They were once found in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

But they are now largely extinct in the wild except in Africa, where there are only about 12,000 to 15,000 left. There are about 1,200 in captivity worldwide.

The Indian cheetah became extinct in 1962 because of large-scale hunting

source

Whats next they'll bring back the Tazmanian Tiger?

Come on. If an animal went extinct its because they couldnt handle a change in the world. Let them stay extinct. Next you'll see nutjobs cloning rapters and we'll all be dead. Although it might be fun if you had a 12 gauge

If an animal went extinct it's because they couldn't handle a change in the world? Give me a break. Many animals become extinct because of humans just as this india cheetah. If we weren't out destrying everything on the planet we would still have a helleva lot of amazing creatures and plants.

Originally posted by I See You
If an animal went extinct it's because they couldn't handle a change in the world?

Give me a break. Many animals become extinct because of humans just as this india cheetah. If we weren't out destrying everything on the planet we would still have a helleva lot of amazing creatures and plants.

Exactly they couldnt handle us, just as other animals cant handle other animals.

There are alot of animals I can think of that I wish we could stop being lazy and go extinguish


[edit on 4/16/2005 by Croat56]

Croat, we can and have easily gone killing tons of animals all over. There's be no whales if we didn't stop. They "couldn't handle" us.

In the name of science, in the name of biodiversity, hell, in the name of bettering our own lives we keep animals alive, and prevent extinction as best we can.

Well, not as best we can. Some try, and some should.

Originally posted by Croat56
Whats next they'll bring back the Tazmanian Tiger?

Come on. If an animal went extinct its because they couldnt handle a change in the world. Let them stay extinct. Next you'll see nutjobs cloning rapters and we'll all be dead. Although it might be fun if you had a 12 gauge

Not necessarily. The Thylacine was doing alright, until we came and shot them all for ruining our crops.

Originally posted by Croat56

Originally posted by I See You
If an animal went extinct it's because they couldn't handle a change in the world?

Give me a break. Many animals become extinct because of humans just as this india cheetah. If we weren't out destrying everything on the planet we would still have a helleva lot of amazing creatures and plants.

Exactly they couldnt handle us, just as other animals cant handle other animals.

There are alot of animals I can think of that I wish we could stop being lazy and go extinguish

[edit on 4/16/2005 by Croat56]

Yeah there are some lazy ignorant animals that would be nice to extinguish but they walk upright and aren't covered in hair.