Pandas to be cloned to avoid extinction

The pandas, who arrived in Scotland in 2011 on a decade-long lease from China, have so far failed to mate despite several attempts to encourage them to have cubs naturally. Iain Valentine, Director of Giant Pandas for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, explains that cell lines derived through collectable samples like cheek swabs help in research into a few of the deadly diseases that pandas are susceptible to including distemper, parvovirus and retrovirus.

Tian Tian was artificially inseminated for the third time earlier this year and vets said she conceived but did not know for definite if she was pregnant.

Despite the breakthrough, which was revealed in worldwide science journal, PLOS One, zoo bosses said they had no plans to clone the pandas themselves.

That’s where the research stops as Valentine adds: “Importantly, this has nothing to do with cloning, although a few key figures involved in the cloning of Dolly the sheep are sharing their expertise as part of the project”.

The pandas, originally from the Ya’an reserve in Chengdu, the capital of south-west China’s Sichuan province, are now on loan to Edinburgh Zoo for a £600,000 annual fee. But there are a few conservation groups that have warned that cloning might not be solution.

“This is a step in bringing back an endangered species or helping preserve them”.

Dr Bill Ritchie, the scientist who directs the Roslin Institute and who helped create Dolly, told the Scottish Mail on Sunday that the team had isolated the pandas’ “building-block cells” needed to start the cloning process. People are wary about cloning and would rather go with conventional methods, but pandas are an anomaly due to their lifestyle.

These contain cells that can be grown into specialised cells such as muscles or nerves. Hence, the global Union for Conservation of Nature considers the species endangered.