Cloned rhesus monkey created to speed medical research

^{"Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta mulatta), male, Gokarna"
by Charles J. Sharp is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
[The clone is a hybrid of M. mulatta and M. fascicularis]}

Chinese researchers have cloned the first rhesus monkey, a species which is widely used in medical research because its physiology is similar to humans.

They say they could speed up drug testing, as genetically identical animals give like-for-like results, providing greater certainty in trials.

Previous attempts to clone a rhesus have either not led to births or the offspring have died a few hours later. 

One animal welfare group has said it is "deeply concerned" by the development.

In mammals, sexual reproduction leads to offspring made up of a mixture of genes from their father and mother. In cloning, techniques are used to create a genetically identical copy of a single animal.