The world's first cloned horse has given birth to a foal, Italian animal-cloning pioneer Cesare Galli said on Tuesday.
said both parent and child were doing well.
''The foal is called Pegasus, he was born over a month ago and is growing well,'' said Galli.
''Prometea is also healthy and is showing no difficulties''.
Pegasus was born on March 17 after a natural, trouble-free birth.
Although he was conceived using artificial insemination, a common practice among horsebreeders, he is not a clone.
He was fathered by a stallion named Abendfurst, who is also a Haflinger breed like Prometea.
Galli said he hoped the birth would lay to rest concerns about the health of cloned animals, sparked by the short lifespan of Dolly the sheep, who died at the age of six.
''Since she was born five years ago, Prometea has turned out to be an absolutely normal animal in excellent health,'' said Galli, who works at the laboratory for reproduction technology at the Cremona Consortium for Livestock Breeding in northern Italy.
''This birth will allay concerns that have always surrounded Prometea, like other clones, and is the final proof of her normality.
''Pegasus shows that cloned animals can grow normally and reproduce in a natural fashion''.
Prometea's own birth was extraordinary not only because it was the first time a horse had been cloned but also because it was the first time a mammal had given birth to its own clone and exact DNA copy.
Prometea was created using a skin cell from her mother, which was then fused with an empty equine egg and implanted in her mother's uterus.
Prometea was named after Prometheus, a Titan who in Greek mythology stole fire from the gods and gave it to humankind.
Galli, who also 'fathered' the cloned bull Galileo, said his method of cloning was easier and more practical than those experimented until now, including that used in the United States to clone a mule.
The Italian scientist recently announced that a cloned stallion called Pieraz, created in 2005, was also expecting his first offspring.
After Galli's pioneering work on horses in Italy, most of the world's horse cloning has moved to Texas.
So far about ten horses have been cloned, including Prometea and Pieraz.
