China gave birth to two cloned cattle, with the newborn proclaimed to be fit and well.

Thanks to nuclear transfer using somatic cells, the calves - named Shuang Shuang and Kang Kang - were born yesterday and on Sunday in the Animal Embryo Engineering Center of Laiyang College of Agriculture in Yantai, a coastal city in East China's Shandong Province.

Experts said Shuang Shuang, the younger, was in perfect shape, with normal respiration and heartbeat, weighing 36 kilograms, and was 36 centimeters long and 68 centimeters tall. It was strong enough to stand up and suckle approximately half an hour after its Caesarean operation birth.

Just after 6 pm on Sunday, the birth of the first cloned cattle took place without any hitches. This calf is also said to be in good shape.

According to Bai Xuejin, host of the cloning project, Kang Kang and Shuang Shuang have been the only two living cloning cattle by nuclear transfer using somatic cells in China.

The success has indicated China's world-level technology in the field, providing technical support for the rapid development of China's milk cow industry and the reproduction of high-yielding milk cows.

Both Kang Kang and Shuang Shuang are female. Sister Kang Kang, 66 hours older than its sibling, takes 3.5 kilograms of milk a day, and has grown to 35 kilograms, gaining 5 kilograms since its birth.

Since February 5, researchers have transferred the blastocysts into five ruttish cows, and two of them got pregnant as a result.

(China Daily November 7, 2001)