Scamper has been cloned!

[Mellifluous]

http://www.viagen.com/en/news/scamper/

[Terry Wallace]

I cannot rememeber what it cost her....I think it was $100K...

But then heck..she can afford it! I think it is absolutely GREAT.....

Too bad Secretariat could not be cloned back in the day.... it would be very interesting to see how five or six Secretariat clones measured up to each other on the track, in their confo, and disposition...

[Centauress]

ok - is it just me or is this kinda CREEPY! I don't know, I love my dogs/horse but would I clone them - NO! This is REALLY messing w/ nature in my opinion. What makes a great horse special is it's one of a kind . If you can clone and it starts to become commonplace it's like "oh - there's Secretariat racing the other Secretariat...again" or "you too can have your own Secretariat. Just pay X amount of dollars and you can own a legend." It's just weird. :roll:

[paintedhorizon]

HUGE ditto here.

ok - is it just me or is this kinda CREEPY! I don't know, I love my dogs/horse but would I clone them - NO! This is REALLY messing w/ nature in my opinion. What makes a great horse special is it's one of a kind . If you can clone and it starts to become commonplace it's like "oh - there's Secretariat racing the other Secretariat...again" or "you too can have your own Secretariat. Just pay X amount of dollars and you can own a legend." It's just weird. :roll:

[appyday]

Thats really awsome...wonder how he does..

[JennLM]

It won't hurt/help the racing industry since it's live cover only still.

Would I clone one of my animals? Unsure. I have a cat I love more then almost anything. But again, I think no cat could ever take her place.

Maybe if we had an animal speical enough it would change minds.

[Centauress]

I had a dog that got killed two years ago this April. I had him for 10 years and because I have no children he was like my "kid". When he died, I felt like it ripped a piece of my heart away. I still think of him every day - especially when I'm around the horses because he was my barn/trail buddy. Would I have cloned him given the opportunity? No.

The clone of him would not have BEEN him. I'm sorry but I do not see the point of cloning pets/horses. Yes - it hurts to lose them but that is a part of life I accept. I will provide a great home to many dogs and horses in my lifetime. I am cherishing the dogs/horse I have now and I know I will love new ones in the future when I sadly lose these special guys...

[ErinC]

Well, it seems like cheating to me.

If you want a championship horse then it should be trained to be a champion not necessarily breed to be a champion

its not all in the genes , if the same well breed horse was in my back yard it would not be a champion .

:roll:

[Pinto Paso]

"Cloning produces a later-born identical twin"

Funny that the markings are not identical though... I think there are ligitimate reasons for and against cloning - in the event of early injury or gelding a horse that goes on to be superior ??? I guess if the technology is there and those that have the money want to spend it there is no reason not to but I still like the anticipation, planning and unknown of the old fashioned way.

[ASB.Immortality]

Hmmmm... I want to do this with Turbo. Evil thoughts for next year. ;-)

[motorgypsy]

Perhaps it will really help us learn more about nature vs nurture if it becomes more common in animals and just how one can best use certain traits we are born with like addictive personalities. Directed toward positive things addiction may be genius but right now we really don't seem to know. It is scary how similar identical twins' lives are that are separated at birth and have totally different parents. Makes you wonder just how much nurture really can do. In animal breeding you avoid "bad blood" but with humans somehow we seem to think that a newborn is a blank slate. It isn't - but just now much can we direct what is already hardwired in the DNA??? Are serial killers made or are they born??? Are saints born or made?? If two secretariats are trained to race, one will undoubtedly win. It would certainly tell who is the best trainer, who fed the best diet and so on.

Now the scientific reason random reproduction which is what mammals and other more complex animals have vs "cloning" type reproduction is successful is because it fools the bacteria, viruses and parasites that make them sick and kills them. Because each individual is different from the others the things that makes us sick have to change also. If we were all born identical like amoeba we would be much easier targets. The same thing is true of single species agriculture like a forest of one type of pine tree. it's much more prone to devastating attacks by insects or disease than a healthy mixed forest.

There really isn't anything scary about cloning. it is just an identical twin of a different age. The same thing would happen if a woman became pregnant with multiple identical embryos and decided for health reasons to have some frozen so she could have them one at a time or have a surrogate mother. They would be different ages but still identical siblings like clones. This may well have happened already with fertility drugs causing multiple births and the high risk to the mother and the babies if they are all carried at the same time. There are plenty of unusual things going on with reproduction these days with couples who have infertility problems.