A somatic cell-cloned calf named "Beibei'' was born in early yesterday morning in East China's Shandong Province, marking another breakthrough that China has made in the field of cloning.

The female cloned calf was measured at 78 centimetres tall and 66 centimetres long, at a weight of 33 kilograms.

Sources with the Animal Embryo Engineering Centre of Laiyang Agricultural College in Shandong said that researchers have used ovulation embryo transfer technologies as well as a process called "vaperification'' to produce Beibei.

Before Beibei, the centre had seen the successful birth of two cloned calves in November 2001, respectively named "Kangkang'' and "Shuangshuang.''

After inspections on the two calves revealed normal results, researchers with the centre acquired 13 embryos from the two cloned calves using the ovulation embryo transfer technology in January of this year.

The 13 embryos have all met international embryo transfer standards and then been preserved by vaperification, a technology that can freeze embryos in a short amount of time, said Dr Dong Yajuan with the centre.

Beibei was born after researchers transplanted part of the frozen embryos into the womb of a cow.

Insiders said the success of this experiment can provide technological support to the industrialization of embryo transfer technology.

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