BANGALORE, Jan 31: A leading Indian research institute has asked Iran to loan it a pair of cheetahs or offer some cells to clone an animal that has been extinct in India for about half a century, its chief said on Friday.

The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology based in Hyderabad made the proposal to Iranian President Mohammad Khatami during a visit to the southern city earlier this week.

“I have proposed cloning where it is not possible to multiply them by regular or assisted breeding,” Lalji Singh, the director of the institute, told Reuters.

The cheetah is a leopard-like member of the cat family and is the fastest animal on land, capable of reaching 100kms per hour in short spurts.

It disappeared from India following large-scale hunting during British rule, but is still found in parts of Iran.

In cloning, the nucleus is removed from a female’s egg cell and replaced with the nucleus from a cell of the animal to be cloned.—Reuters