The World's First Cloned Camel In Dubai

The world's first cloned camel Injaz is seen at the Camel Reproduction Center in Dubai, April 15, 2009. The female one-humped camel was born on April 8, created from cells harvested from the ovary of an adult she-camel which were grown in culture before being frozen in liquid nitrogen.


The project began in 2003 at CVRL, where an Indian scientist, Dr Nisar Wani, under the supervision of Dr Ali Ridha, developed the techniques to produce a “reconstructed embryo” – an embryo carrying the DNA of a single donor animal. The embryo is created in the laboratory using eggs harvested from a female.

Scientists extract the DNA from the egg, replace it with the DNA of an adult animal, and then encourage the egg to develop into an embryo. The embryo is then inserted into the uterus of a surrogate mother, which, if the procedure is successful, will carry the embryo to full term.

In 2007 Dr Wani moved to the Camel Reproduction Centre, where he worked with Dr Skidmore, an expert in embryo transfer, on implanting reconstructed embryos in surrogate mothers.