Comments on: Move Over, Dolly: Buffalo Is the Latest Animal to Be Cloned

By: neil

neil — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:02:27 +0000

The picture that accompanies the Yahoo! news story–identified as Garima, the cloned buffalo–clearly shows that the animal is Bubalus, not Bison. Also the fact that the research was conducted by the National Dairy Research Institute strongly suggests that the cloned animal was a water buffalo, which is a domesticated dairy animal, rather than a bison which are raised for meat but not milk.

By: Allison Bond

Allison Bond — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:32:31 +0000

Hi, this is Allison, the author of the post. Thanks for pointing out the difference between American and Indian buffalo. The animal pictured above is, indeed, an American buffalo. While most buffalo in India are water buffalo, we do not have confirmation as to whether the cloned buffalo was of the water variety. We will be sure to update the post if we receive further information.

By: Dexter

Dexter — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:42:40 +0000

The picture is misleading. Agree with Sheev and neil/

By: neil

neil — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:35:12 +0000

The “buffalo” nearly driven to extinction in North America were actually bison (Bison bison) while the buffalo cloned in India are true buffalo (a.k.a. domestic water buffalo) (Bubalus bubalis). Unfortunately, cloning water buffalo is not going to “redeem” the near extinction of American bison, or for that matter European bison which are in even worse shape.

By: Sheev

Sheev — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:26:22 +0000

The buffalo that the NDRI in India is not the buffalo found in the Americas, its the water buffalo from whose milk mozzarella cheese is made.

By: Scholarly One

Scholarly One — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:13:10 +0000

The superficial pragmatic part in keeping food sources around is cool, the absence of the real reason buffalo are dwindling is not cool. I want research done on the clone’s temperament vs. the original’s temperament. Doesn’t Temperament=Personality=The Essence of that Life form. If the uniqueness of that particular life is also copied, what gene holds that uniqueness?

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:23:49 +0000

what beautiful, delicious beasts, the buffalo!