Find out how to duck the father of chickens

Scientists in Dubai have found a way to create chicks with sperm from male duck bodies.

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Time reports a team of experts from the Dubai National Veterinary Research Center implanted germ cells - the kind of cells that carry DNA to produce eggs and sperm - into the reproductive organs of male duck fetuses. When male ducks mature, it produces the sperm of chickens. The team combined duck sperm with chicken eggs to create a new chicken.

The invention of the Dubai Central Animal Health Research Center is of great significance in the context that people are raising about 50 billion chickens for commercial purposes.

The team will apply this technique to create offspring of rare birds - like eagle and eagle.

"Our ultimate goal is to increase the number of endangered species and even revitalize extinct species," said Mike McGrew, a Roslin Institute scientist in the UK. He joined the study with colleagues at Dubai Central Veterinary Research Center.

Roslin Institute is where Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned to be born. Roslin experts have also caused genetic changes in chickens to create chickens that are resistant to bird flu.