Chinese Biotech Company Successfully Clones Beloved Deceased Cat

Whoa--wait--what?! The future is here and it is scary! Anyone out there getting major Pet Sematary vibes?

In a report by Liu Caiyu and Xu Keyu, the Sinogene Biotechnology Company, in Beijing, China, have SUCCESSFULLY cloned a kitten using cells from the dead body of a beloved family cat. The deceased cat, known as Garlic, passed away from a urinary tract infection. According to the report, the cost of a clone such as this, costs around a whopping $35,400 USD for a cat and $53,550 USD for a dog.

Not sure how we feel about this one.. what are your thoughts? Should we be cloning our beloved pets?

Story via Global Times

Posted by AmyBrown

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How does the process of cloning even work?

Lai Liangxue, the company's chief scientist and a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the Global Times, "Cloning a cat or dog requires an embryo to be cultivated from the cell of the animal, before being implanted into the surrogate mother's uterus, The process - from cell extraction to birth - takes at least two months."

Via Interesting Engineering
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Pictured here is the original Garlic, who passed due to a urinary tract infection,

Heartbroken by the loss of her cat, Garlic's owner, Huang Yu, told Global Times, "My cat died of urinary tract disease. I decided to clone him because he was so special and unforgettable."

Via Global Times / Courtesy of Sinogene
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And on July 21, at the Sinogene Biotechnology Company in Beijing, cloned Garlic was born.

Lai says that even though cloned Garlic appears identical to the real Garlic, they have different temperaments and personalities. And also mentioned that a cloned cat's life expectancy is the same as any other cat.

Via Global Times / Courtesy of Sinogene
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They are also considering the use artificial intelligence in order for the cloned animal to share the same memories as the original!

Zhao Jianping, Sinogene deputy general manager, said at the conference, "To make the cloned animal share the same memories with the original, the company is considering the use of artificial intelligence or man-machine interface technology to store them or even pass the memories to cloned animals."

Via Global Times / Courtesy of Sinogene
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The Beijing-based company is hoping to use this new technology on endangered animals.

According to Lai, "cloning an endangered animal would require experiments on interspecies cloning, but no scientist has so far successfully cloned a cross species animal due to technological barriers. It's still unlikely a rabbit can give birth to a pig, for example."

Via Global Times / Courtesy of Sinogene
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Via ODN