GOT, THE LITTLE FIRST CLONED BULL IN SPAIN

Got

Last May 18th the first cloned fighting bull was born in a ranch in Palencia (Spain). The newborn calf is an exact replica of a muscular, horned specimen of the type matadors face in bullrings. It now weighs 53 pounds (25 kgs).

Its name, Got, means “a glass” in Valencian as his genetic predecessor was called Vasito (little glass), who was a pedigree stud from Andalucia and his surrogate mummy was a Swiss Holstein milk cow, called Angela (all of this is for all of you who feel curious to know….hahahaha). Unfortunately, the brother twin of Got didn’t survive, another cloned bull is expected to be born in mid-August.

Got was created using nuclear transfer, wherein DNA from the “father” bull was inserted into cow’s eggs that had been stripped on their nuclei. The process created embryos which were then implanted into a surrogate cow. The same process was used to create the world’s first cloned mammal: Dolly the sheep.

Dolly and mum

This scientific landmark was made possible by a project led by a team from the Valencia Veterinary Research Foundation. It took three years for the team to find a way to do it. The veterinarian hopes that this experiment is a first step towards the creation of a tissue bank and help preserve species that are endangered.