Olé! Breeder to Clone Prize Bull

US company to copy Alcalde's DNA
By Caroline Zimmerman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 24, 2008 2:16 PM CST
Olé! Breeder to Clone Prize Bull
Alcalde's offspring has made many matadors famous in Spain   (Associated Press)

Alcalde is one in a million: The hulking black bull's sons have struck fear in the hearts of Spain's bravest matadors for more than a decade. But now, in his waning years, his famed breeder has commissioned a US company to make him two in a million—with the cloned bull taking Alcalde's place as sire to champions.

ViaGen has cloned beef cattle and winning racehorses before, the Independent reports. Next month, scientists will remove a piece of Alcalde's skin and graft a nucleus into a cow's egg. Alcalde is "beyond price," so breeder Vitoriano del Rio wants two or three clones to get the best match: the lesser clones will take their turn in the bull ring. (More bulls stories.)

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