Cloned cow "Fu Fu" gave birth to a male calf on Wednesday in east China's Shandong province.

The calf, "Xing Xing", is 80 centimeters long, 85 centimeters tall, measures 80 centimeters round the chest, and weighs 39 kilograms.

All the physiological indices, including heartbeat rate, temperature and breath, were all normal, according to the technicians.

Wei Qiang, head of the technician team, said the birth of Xing Xing proved that cloned cattle had normal reproductive abilities.

Since 2001, scientists from the Institute of Zoology under the Chinese Academy of Science have conducted research on somatic cell cloning in Caoxian County of the province.

The first 12 somatic cell-cloned calves, independently bred by China, were born there in January 2002.

Fu Fu, one of the five survivals, was artificially fertilized and became pregnant last June. And the other four cloned cows have also become pregnant and are expected to give birth in the near future.

(Xinhua News Agency April 1, 2004)