Little marvels: Chinese scientists clone piglets from ‘hero’ survivor of 2008 Sichuan earthquake

Piglets cloned from a strong-willed pig nicknamed “Zhu Jianqiang”, who survived for 36 days after the devastating earthquake that struck Sichuan province in 2008, have been sold as pets, mainland media reports.

They attracted a high price of 10,000 yuan (HK$12,000) each because of their father’s “heroic” genes – even though scientists at a Shenzhen biotechnology company deliberately altered their genes so that they would not be identical, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

The report did not say how many genetically modified cloned piglets had been created, or sold by the scientists.

China has banned cloned pigs being used as a source of food, so scientists destroyed the genetic pathway linked to the pig’s growth hormone, which has restricted the weight of the piglets during their lifetimes to less than 15kg.

After the magnitude 8.0 earthquake, which killed nearly 70,000 people, Zhu Jianqiang lost two thirds of his weight before being rescued.

He was then bought by the owner of the private Jianchuan history museum in Sichuan province, to save him from being killed and eaten.