Scientists keep cloned monkey alive for 2 YEARS in world first – using ‘Dolly the sheep method’

A CLONED monkey has lived for more than two years in a first for wacky scientists.

The rhesus macaque, grown by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is the longest lived primate to have been made with DNA from adult cells.

But critics say the process is still too risky to take us anywhere near human clones.

The lab in Shanghai used the same method that created the first ever animal clone, Dolly the sheep, in 1996.

The technique, called somatic cell nuclear transfer, takes DNA from something like a skin cell from a normal grown monkey.

This is then injected into an embryo that has had its own DNA removed, which is carried to term by a surrogate.

Most attempts to clone monkeys this way fail.

Experiment chief Dr Qiang Sun, who created the first successful monkey clones in 2018, said he managed to develop a healthier placenta that improved the latest creature’s development.

He claims the team has “improved the efficiency” of cloning monkeys which they hope can one day be used for lab research.

Writing in the journal Nature Communications, Dr Sun called the success “remarkable” and said: “This is a promising strategy for primate cloning.”

But the success rate is poor with only one live birth from 113 attempts.

Dr Lluís Montoliu, of the Spanish National Centre for Biotechnology, was not part of the research but said: “This cloning demonstrates two things. 

“First, it is possible to clone primates. 

“Second, but no less important, it is extremely difficult to succeed with these experiments, with such low efficiencies once again ruling out human cloning.”

Animal cloning is controversial because it is so difficult and can cause animal suffering.

Dr Montoliu added: “These experiments could not have been conducted in Europe.

“Legislation prohibits the use of non-human primates unless the experiment is aimed at investigating a serious, life-threatening disease, which is not the case in this experiment.”