Locally cloned camels to hit UAE race tracks soon

A highly successful camel cloning project has been underway in the UAE since 2018.

It's being used to breed some of the fastest animals on the track for the popular sport of camel racing, which is worth millions of dirhams in prize money, gold swords and cars as well.

Speaking exclusively to ARN News, Alex Tinson, Head of Laboratories and Research at the Reproductive Centre, said a good racing camel can be worth between AED 4 million and AED 18 million. 

Cloning animals is often not hugely successful, but with camels the success rate is between 35 to 50 per cent.

Alex recalled how the project has had great success, especially when cloning a camel, which died 10 years ago. 

Racing camels have increased dramatically in speed over the years, so although cloning a fast camel is a good start, they have to be able to run faster than the original.

ARN News asked Alex if that was actually happening.  

Being able to clone animals successfully also has many benefits from a research point of view, as different experiments can be tested on exact genetic  specimens.

Currently, they have a camel from last year, Murdia, which could be the best camel on the planet. It's won seven Gulf awards in two years, and 23 cloned copies of this camel will be born some time next year. 

This leads to the possibility of racing the same camel simultaneously in different locations, and also has exciting possibilities for research.