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THIS year might see the cloning of two more cat species. Conservationists are attempting to clone the black-footed cat, a small and elusive species native to southern Africa. Next on the list is the world’s smallest cat, the rusty spotted cat of India and Sri Lanka.

After the birth of the first cloned cat, cc, in December 2001, Martha Gomez and her colleagues at the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species in New Orleans wondered if the technique could help save endangered species. To test the idea, they chose the African wild cat, Felis lybica, because it is…

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