Researchers Clone
High-Powered Bull

QUEBEC CITY, Canada — Canadian researchers say they have cloned a male calf from the cells of Canada's Starbuck Holstein bull, which sired more than 200,000 calves before dying in 1998.

Reuters new service reports that scientists at Quebec's Artificial Insemination Center and University of Montreal's veterinary faculty are expected to make the announcement this week on the birth of Starbuck 2.

Frozen sperm from the original Starbuck, a celebrity until his death at the age of 20, was sold in more than 70 countries.

The new male calf, temporarily named Starbuck 2, was born on September 7 in Quebec and weighed 120 pounds at birth. Researchers say he is doing well and is a perfect copy of his father.

The critical stage immediately following his birth has passed, researchers say, and Starbuck 2 remains healthy.

Tissues and cells were taken from Starbuck before he died in the fall of 1998 and a cloned embryo was transplanted into a cow in December 1999.

Scientists say they expect the calf to be as productive as his father, but for a longer time, according to Patrick White with Reuters.