Issue date: 1/27/04 Section: News

Supervising technician for the Wildlife & Exotic Animal Center Gavin Eastep scolds white-tailed buck clone Dewey for unwanted behavior. Eastep makes a point to scold Dewey for rubbing antlers on any of the volunteers and students who study him. Dewey is the first deer to be cloned and is expected to be larger than any other deer the Wildlife & Exotic Animal Center has raised. Born on May 23, 2003, Dewey is studied for his body and antler growth. No experiments are currently being conducted on Dewey. (PHOTO by John C. Livas , The Battalion)

The white-tailed deer dubbed Dewey, Texas A&M's most recent clone, is doing well since he was cloned last month, said researchers in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Researchers at the college announced in December that they had successfully cloned Dewey, named after Dr. Duane Kraemer, one of the lead researchers on the project.

The announcement was made seven months after the fawn was born to a surrogate mother. During that time, researchers performed DNA tests to prove the fawn was an exact genetic replica of its donor.

Along with Kraemer, Dr. Mark Westhusin of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Dr. Charles Long of Viagen Inc., worked on the project.

"He was born naturally," Kraemer said. "He seems to be growing quite nicely."

A&M is the first academic institution in the world to clone five different species. Previous cloning projects produced calves, pigs, a goat and a cat.

"The basic procedure is the same to clone all the animals," Kraemer said.

Cloning involves a process called nuclear transfers which isolate genetic samples from the nucleus of a donor cell and transfers the genetic material to the nucleus of an egg cell.

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