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Chinese researchers have been successful in cloning 10 healthy yaks, in what state-controlled media described as a ‘breakthrough’ in high-altitude livestock breeding.
The yaks were cloned in Damshung county of Lhasa, Xizang autonomous region, as the Chinese government calls Tibet. All 10 cloned yaks were carried to term and born naturally between March 25 and April 5, according to an announcement from the county, China Daily, the website of the English-language daily newspaper of the same name owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party, noted.
According to the portal, “the calves were produced using a self-developed technology that creates 1:1 replications. The development could cut yak breeding cycles from around 20 years to under five and reverse long-standing genetic decline, according to Fang Shengguo, who led the research team from Zhejiang University”.
China first cloned a yak last year when “Nam Co No 1” was born in July 2025. The current development builds on that and marks a shift from a “0-to-1” laboratory breakthrough to “1-to-10” replicable production, laying the groundwork for industrial-scale expansion, the portal quoted Fang as saying.
The scientists genome sequenced nearly 9,000 yaks to identify top-tier “seed yaks” with desirable traits, such as those that grow quickly, are fertile, have strong immune systems, and can adapt to high altitudes.
They then used somatic cell cloning to replicate these elite genotypes. The approach, according to the China Daily article, directly addresses long-standing bottlenecks in Tibet’s yak industry, where genetic resources have been degrading for decades and traditional breeding methods are slow and inefficient.
According to Fang, the research team plans to raise a population of over 100 elite cloned yaks by 2028 and develop the first high-altitude-adapted improved yak strain, alongside standardised breeding protocols.
Yaks are endemic to the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas and serve as livelihood assets for local herding communities and are an integral component of the plateau’s ecosystem.
