The BBC reports today that there are reports from the United States that scientists have started to clone endangered species. Weirdly, the animal they decided to experiment with was an Asian guar, which they have named (rather entertainingly) as “Noah”. All this is well and good (although I must confess slightly bizarre), but their next project has thrown up some interesting (and amusing) problems. I quote directly from the article: [Endangered species cloned]
“The paper says the same team, from biotechnology company Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) in Massachusetts, is already considering cloning giant pandas.
The closest related species to giant pandas are rabbits and racoons but neither are ideal as potential surrogate mothers because of their size. “