World's 1st cloned horse pregnant

ROME, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- The world's first cloned horse Prometea is pregnant, Italian animal-cloning pioneer Cesare Gallo confirmed during a telephone interview with Xinhua on Friday.

Galli, who worked at his reproduction technology farm near Italian northern city Cremona and produced Prometea in 2003, said the pregnancy showed that cloned animals were just as healthy as normal ones.

"Prometea will be the first cloned horse to give birth, around the beginning of April. This is further confirmation that clones are completely normal if they are reared healthily," he said.

Cats, cows, bulls and mules have been among the animals cloned since the mother of them all, Dolly the sheep, was unveiled to acclaim and controversy in 1996.

Aside from ethical issues, opponents of cloning have raised concerns that some animals might have reduced quality of life. It is claimed by some that Dolly aged quickly, dying in 2003 at the age of six and a half.

A cloned stallion called Pieraz, created in 2005, was also expecting his first offspring, according to Italian News Agency ANSA.

After Galli's pioneering work on horses in Italy, most of the world's horse cloning has moved to Texas.

So far about 10 horses have been cloned, including Prometea and Pieraz.