The filly Zhuang Zhuang, born in June to a carrier mare, on a clone of a horse imported from Germany.
A Chinese laboratory presented a cloned horse in this city, the first of its kind in the Asian country, in a breeding project for equestrian sports.
Since the early 2000s, several countries have been practicing the cloning of thoroughbreds or purebred horses for the purpose of genetic improvement.
The Zhuang Zhuang filly, born in June to a carrier mare, is a clone of a horse imported from Germany and her pregnancy was managed by the Sinogene laboratory.
Black in color, it is the first “warm-blooded” horse – with a quick and lively temperament – born in China and to have been officially approved by the Chinese Equestrian Industry Association.
Equestrian sports, especially show jumping, are developing in China. But the shortage of high performance horses and the delay in the technology to improve the breeds limit the progress of this activity.
“I have spoken to (Chinese) jockeys who are participating in the Olympic Games. They all have more than one horse. Each equine costs more than $1 million, said Mi Jidong, a director of Sinogene.
“Cloning can help reduce the price of breeding and breeding horses,” he added.
Creating horses in China through cloning will make the Asian giant less dependent on horse imports and more able to develop the equestrian sector.