With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone the animal and

With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to

clone the animal and save the endangered species. That's a move similar to what

a Texas A&M University researcher has been undertaking for the past five

years in a project called “Noah's Ark”.

Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in

Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine and a pioneer in embryo (胚胎)

transfer work and related procedures, says he salutes the Chinese effort and “I

wish them all the best success possible. It's a worthwhile project, certainly

not an easy one, and it's very much like what we're attempting here at Texas

A&M—to save animals from extinction.”

Noah's Ark is aimed at collecting

eggs, embryos, semen(精子) and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in

liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Kraemer says there

would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the

future.

It is estimated that as many as 2,000 species of mammals, birds and

reptiles will become extinct over the next 100 years. The panda, native only to

China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.

This week,

Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead

female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying

to implant the embryo into a host animal.

The entire procedure could take

from three to five years to complete.

 “The nuclear transfer of one species

to another is not easy, and the lack of available panda eggs could be a major

problem,” Kraemer believes. “They will probably have to do several hundred

transfers to result in one pregnancy. It takes a long time and it's difficult,

but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not

putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort,” adds Kraemer, who

is one of the leaders of the Missyplicity Project at Texas A&M, the first

ever attempt at cloning a dog.

“They are trying to do something that’s never

been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah's Ark. We’re both trying

to save animals that face extinction. I certainly applaud their effort and

there's a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It's a research

that is very much needed.”

4). What could be the major problem in cloning pandas according to Professor Kraemer? ________

A. Lack of available panda eggs.

B. Lack of host animals.

C. Lack of qualified researchers.

D. Lack of funds.

5). The best title for the passage may be ___

A. China—the Native Place of Pandas Forever

B. China's Efforts to Clone Pandas

C. China's First Cloned Panda

D. Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas