Injaz (, meaning "achievement"; April 8, 2009- January 12, 2020) was a female

dromedary camel The dromedary (''Camelus dromedarius''), also known as the dromedary camel, Arabian camel and one-humped camel, is a large camel of the genus ''Camelus'' with one hump on its back. It is the tallest of the three camel species; adult males stan ...

, credited with being the world's first cloned camel. Nisar Ahmad Wani, a reproductive biologist and head of the research team at the Camel Reproduction Center in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

, announced on April 14, 2009, that the cloned camel was born after an "uncomplicated"

gestation Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregn ...

of 378 days. The cloning project had the personal endorsement and financial support of

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (; born 15 July 1949) is an Emirati politician and royal who is the current ruler of Dubai, and serves as the Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, vice president and Prime Minister of the United Arab ...

, the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, and the

emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

of Dubai. Prior to this, there had been several unsuccessful attempts in the Emirate to clone a camel. Injaz was created from ovarian cells of an adult camel slaughtered for its

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

in 2005. The cells were grown in

tissue culture Tissue culture is the growth of tissue (biology), tissues or cell (biology), cells in an artificial medium separate from the parent organism. This technique is also called micropropagation. This is typically facilitated via use of a liquid, semi-s ...

and then frozen in

liquid nitrogen Liquid nitrogen (LN2) is nitrogen in a liquid state at cryogenics, low temperature. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of about . It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. It is a colorless, mobile liquid whose vis ...

. Afterwards, one of the cells was injected into a

nucleus Nucleus (: nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: *Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom *Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucleu ...

-removed

oocyte An oocyte (, oöcyte, or ovocyte) is a female gametocyte or germ cell involved in reproduction. In other words, it is an immature ovum, or egg cell. An oocyte is produced in a female fetus in the ovary during female gametogenesis. The female ger ...

of the surrogate camel, which were then fused with an

electric current An electric current is a flow of charged particles, such as electrons or ions, moving through an electrical conductor or space. It is defined as the net rate of flow of electric charge through a surface. The moving particles are called charge c ...

and chemically induced to initiate

cell division Cell division is the process by which a parent cell (biology), cell divides into two daughter cells. Cell division usually occurs as part of a larger cell cycle in which the cell grows and replicates its chromosome(s) before dividing. In eukar ...

. The resulting

embryo An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sp ...

was cultured for a week and implanted back into the surrogate camel's

uterus The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', : uteri or uteruses) or womb () is the hollow organ, organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans, that accommodates the embryonic development, embryonic and prenatal development, f ...

. Twenty days later, its pregnancy was confirmed using

ultrasound Ultrasound is sound with frequency, frequencies greater than 20 Hertz, kilohertz. This frequency is the approximate upper audible hearing range, limit of human hearing in healthy young adults. The physical principles of acoustic waves apply ...

and monitored throughout the

gestation period In mammals, pregnancy is the period of reproduction during which a female carries one or more live offspring from implantation in the uterus through gestation. It begins when a fertilized zygote implants in the female's uterus, and ends once i ...

. After Injaz's birth, its

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

was tested at the Molecular Biology and Genetics Laboratory in Dubai and confirmed to be identical copies of the DNA of the original ovarian cells, proving that Injaz is a clone of the original camel. Camel racing is a lucrative industry in the UAE. Ulrich Wernery and Lulu Skidmore, commented that the camel cloning "gives a means of preserving the valuable genetics of our elite racing and milk-producing camels in the future." Injaz's first birth was lauded around the world as proof that cloned camels could conceive naturally. She gave birth to her first calf, a female, on November 2, 2015, at a center in Dubai. Injaz was able to conceive and give birth naturally, which was considered a "colossal feat." Injaz celebrated her 6th and 10th birthday in April 2015 and 2019, marking a milestone in the development of cloning and biotechnology in the UAE. She lived a healthy life and gave birth to two cloned calves during her lifetime. Injaz died on January 12, 2020, while pregnant with her fourth calf.

References

{{reflist Cloned animals Individual camels 2009 animal births 2020 animal deaths Individual animals in the United Arab Emirates