Photo: Chinanews.com

The first cloned Tibetan pig born in Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region recently gave birth to nine pure-bred piglets, according to media reports. 

The nine piglets were born on December 8, with an average weight of 0.55 kilograms and 0.7 kilograms at most. They have dark black hair, crystal eyes and robust and steady limbs, being in good health and growth status. 

Tibetan pigs, mainly born on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, are a kind of rare high-plateau-type pig breed and belong to local breed resources in China. They live in severely cold mountain areas and are adapt to high altitude climate environments. 

The first cloned Tibetan pig born in December 2020 marked the successful application of somatic cell breed preservation cloning technology for the first time in China's Xizang region. 

The cloned pig was successfully mated and conceived in mid-August 2021. After 114 days of intensive care, the first piglets were born on December 8, 2021. 

The birth of the somatic cell cloning Tibetan pig and the successful delivery of its offspring indicate that Xizang has mastered the method of somatic cell cryopreservation to realize the protection of genetic resources for local pig breeds and realized the long-term preservation and thawing of local pig genetic materials to construct a more complete genetic resource protection technology system.