Researchers Hope it will boost milk production.
Researchers here say they are close to creating the world's first clone of a water buffalo that could eventually help raise productivity levels for millions of impoverished farmers.
| Reuters A Filipino farmer rides a water buffalo, locally known as carabao, in the Buenavista village of northern Philippines' Pampanga province. Philippine researchers aim to replicate a "super buffalo" that would boost the genetic make-up and milk production of the native water buffalo. |
The aim is to replicate a "super buffalo" that would boost the genetic make-up and milk production of the native water buffalo, the carabao, said Dr Libertado Cruz, executive director of the government-run Philippine Carabao Centre.
"We are now in the process of transferring the cloned embryos to a surrogate dam [mother]," he said yesterday.
"By the middle of next year we can expect some live animals."
Less expensive
The indebted southeast Asian nation is not usually known for technological innovation, but Cruz said cloning had become easier and less expensive since Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, entered the world in 1997.
Brazil has created clones of cattle, including an endangered cow species earlier this year.
Cruz said researchers at the centre had created the embryos by fusing genetic material from somatic cells taken from a Bulgarian water buffalo's ear with the eggs of local carabao.
The Philippines has imported about 3,500 Bulgarian buffalo, which are descendants of a high-yielding Murrah breed from India, Cruz said.
The carabao, of which there are an estimated 3.2 million in the Philippines, is a national symbol because of its role in everything from pulling carts to producing meat and milk.
But dairy carabao produce only a relatively small amount of milk, an average of 8 litres a day, Cruz said.
"In India, where the animal numbers around 98 million, I have seen some animals producing 35 litres per day," he said. "I would consider these animals as the super buffalo, but they are not so many."
No danger
Cruz said the plan was to obtain enough sperm from cloned male super buffalo to start a widespread insemination programme in the Philippines that would create higher-yielding carabao.
He said there was no danger of the Philippine carabao being entirely replaced by a new breed of super buffalo because there were genetically pure pools of carabao that would be protected.
"In terms of the future worries of these animals getting extinct, it's not going happen," Cruz said.
HABITAT
Very dependent on availability of water
The wild Asian buffalo weighs 800-1,200 kg. It is a massive, powerful animal, with the widest horn span of any bovid — more than 2 metres. The wild Asian buffalo is very dependent on the availability of water.
Historically, its preferred habitats were low-lying alluvial grasslands and their surroundings. Riparian forests and woodlands were also utilised. The wild Asian buffalo eats grass and leafy aquatic vegetation.
It is mainly a grazer, feeding in the morning and evenings and lying up in dense cover or submerging in wallows during midday. During the midday heat, the wild Asian buffalo frequently wallows in water or muddy pools, sometimes almost completely submerged, with only its nostrils showing.
In addition to keeping it cool, wallowing helps to remove skin parasites, biting flies, and other pests. Where there is substantial human disturbance, the wild Asian buffalo is mainly nocturnal.
A herd of female wild Asian buffaloes with young is led by a dominant matriarch and often accompanied by a single adult bull.
