Different from the homogeneous reproduction of the world's first cloned sheep "Dolly", the newly born antelope was developed by combining an Asian antelope's body cell with a goat's egg cell, the Xinhua news agency said.

In April 2003, researchers from the Xinjiang Jinniu Biology Co. Ltd. took a cell from the ear of an Asian antelope in a zoo in Lanzhou city of northwest China's Gansu province and put it in a goat egg cell to form an embryo.

The embryo was put in the uterus of a goat in September 2003 and four months later the cloned antelope was born.

Xu Yixuan, a researcher from the Xinjiang Jinniu, said the antelope was in a healthy condition with its weight increasing by 0.2 kilogrammespounds) every day.

The Asian Antelope, also known as the North Goat, is a protected animal in China and mainly lives in the north and northwest.

Chinese scientists have high hopes for cloning technology and have successfully cloned a goat. They aim to eventually use the method to preserve endangered species such as the white flag freshwater dolphin.

The giant panda is a more obvious beneficiary of improved cloning technology, as the astoundingly popular furry animal is notoriously uninterested in sex.

TERRA.WIRE