Cloned Banteng Arrives at Wild Animal Park

A cloned banteng calf born to a domestic cow arrived at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, where scientists will continue to study it.

The bull calf is active and eating well, according to officials at Trans Ova Genetics of Iowa, where it was born April 1. The calf is genetically identical to a male banteng that died at the animal park outside San Diego 23 years ago. Frozen skin cells from that animal had been stored in the San Diego Zoo’s “Frozen Zoo,” a bank of cells and genetic material from about 100 endangered species. Fewer than 8,000 bantengs remain in the wild, mostly in Southeast Asia.