AFP UK

SpaceX is set to launch four people into space Wednesday on a three-day mission that is the first to orbit the Earth with exclusively private citizens on board, as Elon Musk’s company enters the space tourism fray. 

The “Inspiration4” mission caps a summer that saw billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos cross the final frontier, on Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin spaceships respectively, a few days apart in July.

The SpaceX flight has been chartered by American billionaire Jared Isaacman, the 38-year-old founder and CEO of payment processing company Shift4 Payment. He is also a seasoned pilot.

The exact price he paid SpaceX hasn’t been disclosed, but it runs into the tens of millions of dollars.

The mission itself is far more ambitious in scope than the few weightless minutes Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin customers can buy.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon will be flying further than the orbit of the International Space Station.

“The risk is not zero,” said Isaacman in an episode of a Netflix documentary about the mission.

“You’re riding a rocket at 17,500 miles (28,000 kilometers) per hour around the Earth. In that kind of environment there’s risks.”

SpaceX has already given no fewer than ten astronauts rides to the ISS on behalf of NASA — but this will be the first time taking non-professional astronauts.

Lift-off is scheduled for Wednesday from 8:00 pm Eastern Time (0000 GMT) from launch pad 39A, at NASA’s Kennedy Center in Florida, from where the Apollo missions to the Moon took off.

– ‘Are we going to the Moon?’ –

In addition to Isaacman, who is the mission commander, three non-public figures were selected for the voyage via a process that was first advertised at the Super Bowl in February. 

Each crew member was picked to represent a pillar of the mission.

The youngest, Hayley Arceneaux, is a childhood bone cancer survivor, who represents “hope.” 

She will become the first person with a prosthetic to go to space.

“Are we going to the Moon?” she asked, when she was offered her spot.

“Apparently people haven’t gone there in decades. I learned that,” she laughed, in the documentary.  

The 29-year-old was picked because she works as a Physician Assistant in Memphis for St. Jude’s Hospital, the charitable beneficiary of Inspiration4.

One of the donors secured the seat of “generosity”: Chris Sembroski, 42, is a former US Air Force veteran who now works in the aviation industry. 

The last seat represents “prosperity” and was offered to Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old earth science professor who, in 2009, narrowly missed out on becoming a NASA astronaut.

She will be only the fourth African American woman to go to space.

– Months of training –

The crew’s training has lasted months and has included experiencing high G force on a centrifuge — a giant arm that rotates rapidly. 

They have also gone on parabolic flights to experience weightlessness for a few seconds and completed a high altitude, snowy trek on Mount Rainier in the northwestern United States.

They spent time at the SpaceX base, though the flight itself will be fully autonomous.

Over the three days of orbit, their sleep, heart rate, blood and cognitive abilities will be analyzed. 

Tests will be carried out before and after the flight to study the effect of the trip on their body. 

The idea is to accumulate data for future missions with private passengers.  

The stated goal of the mission is to make space accessible for more people, although space travel remains for the moment only partially open to a privileged few.

“In all of human history, fewer than 600 humans have reached space,” said Isaacman. 

“We are proud that our flight will help influence all those who will travel after us.”

For the first time on Wednesday, SpaceX is due to send into orbit a crew made up entirely of complete novices, without a professional astronaut on board. 

The four passengers are supposed to embody the opening-up of space to everyone, giving the mission its name: Inspiration4. 

A billionaire, Jared Isaacman, is behind the  project. It was he who chartered the mission, at his own expense, inviting three anonymous people to join him, via a rather original selection process. Each seat has been assigned to represent a specific value.

– Jared Isaacman, billionaire pilot –

 

Isaacman is the mission commander. 

The 38-year-old American is the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, which offers stores and restaurants a service for processing bank card transactions. 

He created it when he was 16, from the basement of the family home. 

Passionate about piloting, he holds a record for flying around the world in a light jet and is qualified to fly several military aircraft. In 2012, he founded a company providing training to US Air Force pilots, called Draken International.

A married father of two daughters, he has always been passionate about space exploration.

In 2008, he witnessed the takeoff, aboard a Russian rocket in Kazakhstan, of one of the first private tourists to visit the International Space Station, Richard Garriott. It was after that experience that he contacted SpaceX.

His seat represents “leadership.”

– Hayley Arceneaux, cancer survivor –

Arceneaux was treated for bone cancer as a child at St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, for which Jared Isaacman organized a fundraiser. She works there today as a physician assistant.

At 29, she will be the youngest American to be sent into orbit around the Earth, and the first person with a prosthesis to go into space.

She will be the medical manager for the mission. Her seat represents “hope.”

– Sian Proctor, professor and astronaut candidate –

Proctor, 51, teaches geology at a small college in Arizona. 

Born in Guam, her father worked at NASA during the Apollo missions. She participated in an experiment in Hawaii simulating life on Mars, and twice applied to NASA to become an astronaut. 

In 2009, she was among a few dozen finalists out of more than 3,500 candidates. She will be only the fourth African American woman to go into space. 

She will be the pilot of the mission, assisting the commander. 

She won her seat, which represents “prosperity,” by creating an online sales site linked to space, as part of an entrepreneurial competition organized by Isaacman’s company.

– Chris Sembroski, Air Force vet –

A 42-year-old US Air Force veteran who served in Iraq, Sembroski now works in the aeronautics industry, for Lockheed Martin in Washington state. 

He was selected after making a donation as part of a fundraiser for St. Jude’s Hospital. 

His seat represents “generosity.” His role will be to help in managing the cargo on board, and communications with Earth.

A few minutes of weightlessness, or a few days. A short hop above the Earth’s atmosphere, or a journey to the Moon and back… the era of space tourism is upon us, and — for those who can pay — it comes with many options.

This year has been an important one for the up-and-coming sector, with a slew of new missions announced. Here is the state of play.

– SpaceX –

1/ INSPIRATION4

Elon Musk’s company is set this week to send four passengers to space, for a total of three days. They blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon mounted on a Falcon 9 rocket.

It’ll be the first orbital mission involving four non-professional astronauts. The “Inspiration4” mission is chartered by American billionaire and pilot Jared Isaacman, and will fly beyond the altitude of the International Space Station.

2/ AX-1

In January 2022, three businessmen will visit the ISS, alongside an experienced former NASA astronaut.

The mission, which is to last 10 days in total and named Ax-1, is being organized by the company Axiom Space, which has signed up for three more future flights with SpaceX.  

They will operate in the American segment of the ISS, where they will conduct scientific experiments.

3/ SPACE ADVENTURE

SpaceX also has plans for another orbital voyage for four paying clients, organized by Space Adventures.

It was this company that organized tips for seven tourists to the ISS between 2001 and 2009 aboard Russian rockets.

3/ DEARMOON

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is due to take a trip around the Moon, presumably in 2023, aboard a Starship rocket that is still under development by SpaceX. The mission is called dearMoon.

– Virgin Galactic –

Virgin Galactic’s experience involves an enormous carrier plane that takes off from a runway, reaches a high altitude, then drops a rocket-powered spaceplane which accelerates towards space.

The passengers and crew experience a few minutes of weightlessness at altitudes exceeding 50 miles (80 kilometers) — the US definition of space.

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson participated in a test flight on July 11 out of New Mexico.

The company is currently grounded pending an investigation over a flight “mishap.” It hopes to have routine flights by 2022.

– Blue Origin –

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin also offers a few minutes of weightlessness, but at altitudes exceeding 60 miles (100 kilometers). Its astronauts thus breach the Karman line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.

The reusable rocket blasts off vertically, and the capsule detaches in flight. 

Its descent back to Earth is slowed by three huge parachutes and a thruster.

The Amazon founder was among the first four passengers to make the trip from the company’s west Texas base on July 20.

– Russian endeavors – 

Russia will send an actress and a director to the ISS in October, aboard a Soyuz rocket. The goal: to shoot the first fiction film in orbit and in zero gravity.

Japan’s Yusaku Maezawa is also set to go to the ISS in December on a Soyuz rocket. The trip is to last 12 days and is being organized through Space Adventures. 

The company has announced another mission to the ISS in 2023 in a Russian rocket, for two participants, one of whom will have the opportunity to perform a spacewalk.

– Spaceballoon – 

Other companies are developing less ambitious projects, like Space Perspective. Its capsule, hoisted by a spaceballoon the size of a football stadium, offers a view of the Earth’s curvature.

Tickets cost $125,000 but the balloon ascends only 30 kilometers, which means passengers won’t experience weightlessness.

California is burning. Wildfires are tearing through the US state at an alarming rate and heating up the vote on recalling the embattled governor.

Democrat Gavin Newsom’s detractors blame him for all of California’s ills: from the housing crisis to the march of Covid-19. 

And the record-breaking fire season — shaping up to be the worst ever — is another stick with which to beat him.

“This is about the failure of government to do the most basic things, like manage our forests,” Republican candidate Kevin Kiley said.

With hundreds of homes already lost and thousands of people forced to flee encroaching flames, it might seem like a winning strategy.

But even those who have seen their property reduced to ashes say the problem is bigger than the 53-year-old politician at California’s helm.

“I voted for Newsom and I don’t plan to recall him,” said Tim Close, who learned of the destruction of his family’s cabin near South Lake Tahoe when he saw an AFP photograph of it burning.

“I just think that the fires have increased. We’re in a drought,” Close said.

“You can just look over what’s happened in the last five or six years. And it seems like you know, every season is getting worse.”

Scientists say man-made climate change is making the western United States hotter, drier and more vulnerable to destructive fires.

The blazes are a natural part of the forest cycle, but their increased regularity and ferocity is down to the rise in global temperatures caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

– Anger –

Californians are voting on whether to oust Newsom in a recall election prompted by Republicans angered by mask mandates, a high cost of living and sky-rocketing homelessness in the wealthiest and most populous state in the union.

The two-part vote asks first if Newsom should be removed. If a majority agree, then whoever gets the most votes out of 46 candidates — regardless of how few votes he or she receives — will take Newsom’s place.

But despite Republican claims, the fires are unlikely to play a decisive roll at the ballot box, says Jack Citrin, professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.

“I don’t think there’s been much discussion or evidence of this. Obviously, the people who are affected by the fires and who have lost homes and so forth are angry, but then the question really is, whom do they blame?” Citrin said.

“It’s hard to know, it’s the generalized anger that one might feel about this, if one is a victim and forced to evacuate. (But) it doesn’t really lead in any direct way… to the governor.”

For urban voters the fires are a nuisance, affecting air quality as smoke drifts into the cities.

But for those in rural areas, the impacts are huge.

As voters return their ballots in the run up to Tuesday’s deadline, thousands of firefighters continue to battle huge blazes, like the Caldor Fire that last week emptied out the tourist town of South Lake Tahoe.

Further north, the Dixie Fire is already the second biggest blaze in state history, having torched more than 3,800 square kilometers (1,500 square miles).

– Use of resources – 

To hold one man responsible for nature’s large-scale fury is to wilfully ignore the bigger picture, argued The Los Angeles Times.

“These crises were years in the making and — let’s face it — Newsom inherited them from his Democratic predecessor, Jerry Brown. But Newsom had the misfortune to take office just as they reached the boiling point,” said a recent editorial.

Newsom has asked Californians to reduce their water consumption, has successfully secured requested federal money, and pumped resources into fire prevention measures, the paper said.

“If anything, being visible as a leader in showing compassion, in showing concern, can in a marginal way help him,” says Citrin, who believes the last word will be in the hands of Democrats — a largely urban constituency — who will vote more on issues like housing, the pandemic and the cost of living. 

Maybe, says Close, the $280 million it has cost to mount the recall election — just 18 months before the end of Newsom’s term anyway — could have been used to protect the tinder-dry countryside.

“I think it would be better to spend it on, you know, fire prevention, educating people to clear brush away from their homes,” he said.

As the sound of gunfire erupts near her office, Celia Umenza takes the briefest of pauses from discussing her battle against farming expansion and mining that threaten indigenous land and water in Colombia.

Death is a constant companion for indigenous defenders of nature in the violence-ridden country, and Umenza has already survived three attempts on her life.

While speaking to AFP, bursts of gunfire and explosions reverberate in the mountains near her office in Toribio, in the rural Cauca department.

She stops speaking for just a moment before resuming the interview, seemingly indifferent to the looming threat that has become a part of life for many in Colombia.

In a report released Sunday, the non-governmental group Global Witness said Colombia was the most dangerous country for land and environment defenders for the second year in a row in 2020, accounting for 65 of the 227 killings reported worldwide.

“We have the threat of government repression, of retaliation by the guerrillas and also by the paramilitaries,” said Umenza, 48.

The most recent attack on her life was in 2014.

“A neighbor was driving me in a van… they riddled the van with bullets,” she said.

According to Global Witness, 2020 was the deadliest year on record for environmental activists since 2012, when its records begin.

A third of deadly attacks were on indigenous peoples, and many were linked to opposition to logging, mining, agribusiness, hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure threatening natural resources that communities have relied on for generations.

– ‘Preserving the water’ –

Since the 1970s, the indigenous peoples of the Cauca region of southwest Colombia have been fighting an expansion by sugarcane growers they say are driving them from the fertile lowlands they rely on for survival, and destroying the forest.

“We no longer have those forests that used to exist, we no longer have that fauna, that flora. It is really worrying,” said Umenza.

The dispute is also about water, she said. 

Unlike the native vegetation, she explained, the sugar cane “draws a lot of water and little by little” has been drying up the streams.

In its report, Global Witness said 17 people worldwide were killed in 2020 for their activism against agribusiness, and 20 in disputes over water and dams.

“Companies have been acting irresponsibly for decades, contributing to, and benefiting from, attacks on land and environmental defenders,” it noted.

– In the crosshairs –

Near Toribio, where Umenza lives and works, illegal gold mining contaminates water with mercury. Further north, pesticides used in the cultivation of marijuana poison the soil.

Both illegal activities finance dissident FARC guerillas, who rejected a peace pact with the government in 2016 to end a near six-year civil war, as well as fighters of the last remaining rebel group the ELN and paramilitary forces that are still active.

According to the Global Witness report, paramilitary and criminal groups have increased their control of rural areas through violence.

“Those seeking to protect their land and environment are increasingly being caught up in the crosshairs of this violence –- with those protecting indigenous land particularly at risk,” it said.

Frequently the victims are community members seeking to benefit from a government program to convert illegal coca crops, from which cocaine is derived, into legal ones. 

The situation was worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic, with official lockdowns leading to defenders being targeted in their homes, and government protection measures being cut.

To make matters even more complicated, Umenza says legal companies benefit from the illegal gold extraction, buying at low prices.

She is protected by the Indigenous Guard, a self-defense organization that confronts perceived intruders armed with batons and two-way radios, but no guns.

“In the indigenous territories we have fortunately managed to keep mining out,” said Umenza.

But the price is high, with one member of the Guard killed every week so far this year, she added.

– ‘A moving target’ –

Umenza says she has received countless death threats since 2001.

The first attempt on her life came in 2005, she says by FARC guerillas, who shot at her while she was walking in the countryside.

Five years later, continued threats forced her to move — the first of several involuntary relocations, the most recent of which was in January this year.

In 2011, the government’s National Protection Unit assigned a vehicle escort to protect Umenza and four other threatened people in the Toribio region.

A few months ago, it offered her a bodyguard and a bullet-proof vest.

She “did not accept because walking around in the vest makes me feel more vulnerable,” like a moving target, she told AFP.

Since 2009, Umenza’s three children have been living far away for their own safety, and she says their father left her because he “could not stand” the constant threats, attacks and regular uprooting.

She has a new partner today — but she is realistic about her happy ever after. 

“It is not easy living with someone who today takes you on the run, and tomorrow, who knows,” she said.

A record 227 people were killed worldwide in 2020 for their defense of nature — more than four a week on average, and almost three-quarters of them in Latin America, environmental rights organization Global Witness said Sunday.

For the second year in a row, Colombia was the country with the highest number of killings — 65 — while Nicaragua had the highest per-capita rate, with 12 murders up from five in 2019, the group said in its annual report.

Seven of the 10 deadliest countries for land and environmental defenders were in Latin America, with 165 killings recorded, though Global Witness said the number was “almost certainly” an underestimate.

After Colombia, Mexico had the second highest number of deaths globally, with 30.

It was followed by the Philippines (29), Brazil (20), Honduras (17), the Democratic Republic of Congo (15), Guatemala (13), Nicaragua (12), Peru (six) and India (four).

“This is a crisis against humanity,” said the report. 

“Land and environmental defenders that have stood up to powerful interests have paid a heavy price — with their freedom, livelihoods and even their lives.”

Repressive governments, added Global Witness, used the global coronavirus outbreak “as an opportunity to clamp down on civil society as companies pushed ahead with destructive projects.”

Many activists and communities also experience attempts to silence them through death threats, surveillance, sexual violence or arrests, said the report. 

The majority of victims — 71 percent — had been working to protect forests, while others died for their work to conserve rivers, coastal areas and the oceans.

– ‘Extractive economic model’ – 

A third of fatal attacks targeted indigenous peoples, who make up only five percent of the world’s population.

“We are indigenous… we know that only the environment can sustain us,” Celia Umenza, who agitates against mining and sugarcane farming in the violent southwest of Colombia, told AFP. 

She has survived three attacks.

In Mexico, where lethal attacks increased 67 percent from 2019, the Kumeyaay people have organized against a brewing company they accuse of hoarding drinking water. One of their leaders, Oscar Eyraud, was assassinated last year.

“It was very shocking. A group of people came to his house and killed him with big guns,” a friend, Diana Aranguren, told AFP, adding there has been “no progress” in the investigation.

The report blamed corporations that it said operated “with almost complete impunity” in countries rich in natural resources.

“It’s clear that many companies engage in an extractive economic model that overwhelmingly prioritizes profit over human and environmental harm,” said the report.

Global Witness said 23 people worldwide were killed in 2020 for their activism against logging — the biggest single category — 20 in disputes over water and dams and 17 each for challenging the agribusiness and mining sectors.

– ‘Impunity’ –

“Businesses have profited from human rights abuses and environmental damage with relative impunity for far too long,” said the report.

It also criticized governments for being “all too willing to turn a blind eye.”

“They (governments) are failing to protect defenders — in many cases directly perpetrating violence against them, and in others arguably complicit with business.”

Global Witness has been collecting data on these types of attacks since 2012.

Among its recommendations, it said the United Nations should “fill a glaring gap” by formally recognizing the human right to a safe, healthy and sustainable environment.

Global Witness said the data in its report did not capture the true scale of the problem, given press restrictions or a lack of independent monitoring of attacks in some countries.

Six ocelots rescued from illegal wildlife traffickers have been returned to the wild in northern Ecuador, the environment ministry said on Saturday.

“They released six female ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) in the Cotacachi Cayapas Reserve,” near the border with Colombia, it said in a statement.

“All the specimens returned to their natural habitat after a rehabilitation period of approximately one year.”

Rescuers said the ocelots were dewormed and blood samples were taken to assess their health. They were also marked with microchips to identify them in the future.

The nocturnal wildcats were released “in an area where humans have no contact with them and where they can live in their habitat and develop freely,” according to Placido Palacios, director of the private James Brown Rescue Center, where the animals underwent rehabilitation.

Illegal wildlife trafficking is punishable with up to three years in prison in Ecuador. 

Over the past seven years more than 6,000 wild animals have been rescued from the trade, according to figures from the country’s environment ministry.

Chilean scientists have announced the discovery of the first-ever southern hemisphere remains of a type of Jurassic-era “winged lizard” known as a pterosaur.

Fossils of the dinosaur which lived some 160 million years ago in what is today the Atacama desert, were unearthed in 2009.

They have now been confirmed to be of a rhamphorhynchine pterosaur — the first such creature to be found in Gondwana, the prehistoric supercontinent that later formed the southern hemisphere landmasses.

Researcher Jhonatan Alarcon of the University of Chile said the creatures had a wingspan of up to two meters, a long tail, and pointed snout.

“We show that the distribution of animals in this group was wider than known to date,” he added.

The discovery was also “the oldest known pterosaur found in Chile,” the scientists reported in the scientific journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.  

Cloning is in high demand in the competitive world of camel beauty pageants, leaving scientists at a Dubai clinic working round the clock to produce carbon-copy beasts.

Not every animal is blessed with sought-after drooping lips and a tall, elegant neck, but technology now allows wealthy clients to replace their most beautiful camel with one just like it.

At the Reproductive Biotechnology Center, with views of the UAE city’s towering skyscrapers, scientists pore over microscopes while dozens of cloned camels roam outside.

“We have so much demand for cloning camels that we are not able to keep up,” the centre’s scientific director Nisar Wani told AFP.

Beauty pageants are not the only driver of the camel cloning industry. Many customers want to reproduce racing camels, or animals that produce large amounts of milk.

But “beauty queens” are the most popular order. Gulf clients will pay between 200,000 and 400,000 dirham ($54,500-$109,000) to duplicate a dromedary.

The camels are paraded at dusty racetracks around the region and scrutinised by judges, with occasional discoveries of Botox and cosmetic fillers adding a spice of scandal to the high-stakes contests.

Saud Al-Otaibi, who runs a camel auction in Kuwait, said customers’ judgement of the animals’ looks is key to his business.

“The price of the camel is determined according to its beauty, health, and how well known the breed is,” he told AFP.

When it comes to young animals, “customers are keen on seeing the mother to determine its beauty before buying the camel,” he added.

– No going back –

Twelve years ago, Dubai claimed the world’s first cloned camel. 

Injaz, a female whose name means achievement in Arabic, was born on April 8, 2009, after more than five years of work by Wani and others.

From the minute Injaz was born, there was no going back. 

“We are now producing plenty, maybe more than 10 to 20 babies every year. This year we have 28 pregnancies (so far), last year we had 20,” Wani said with pride.

The centre is churning out “racing champions, high milk-producing animals… and winners of beauty contests called Beauty Queens”, added Wani, sitting in a lab next to the preserved body of a cloned camel in a glass container.

Known as “ships of the desert”, and once used for transport across the sands of the Arab peninsula, camels are symbols of traditional Gulf culture.

Now, after being replaced by gas-guzzling SUVs as the main mode of transport, they are used for racing, meat and milk.

“We have cloned some she-camels that produce more than 35 litres of milk a day,” said Wani, compared to an average of five litres in normal camels.

Camel milk is commonly found next to regular milk at supermarkets in the Gulf, while meat products such as camel carpaccio are served in fancy restaurants.

– ‘Saddest moment’ –

Cloning dogs, cows and horses is popular in many countries, although animal rights groups say the process causes undue suffering to the animals that provide the egg cells and carry embryos.

With orders flying into the cloning clinics in the United Arab Emirates, the only such facilities in the Gulf, scientists have developed new techniques to keep up with the pace.

Female camels only give birth to one calf every two years, including a gestation period of 13 months. 

But breeding centres use a surrogacy technique to increase the number of offspring, whether from cloning or traditional breeding.

“In this process which we call multiple ovulation and embryo transfer, we super-stimulate the champion females and breed them with champion males,” explained Wani.

“We collect the embryos from these females after seven to eight days and then we put them in surrogate mothers, which are very ordinary animals.” 

Alternatively, cloned camels can be created by placing DNA from cells in the desired animal’s ovaries into eggs taken from the surrogate mothers.

“These mothers carry the babies to term, and instead of producing one baby at a time in a year, we can produce many calves from these animals.”

Cloning is not just for those who want to own elite camels. Sometimes, clients simply want to reproduce a beloved animal after a sudden death.

Wani, who started working at the clinic in 2003, said his proudest moment was the birth of Injaz — and the worst time was her death.

“She died this year,” he said. “When we came in the morning, she had ruptured her uterus. We tried to save her as much as possible. This was the saddest moment.”

Cloning is in high demand in the competitive world of camel beauty pageants, leaving scientists at a Dubai clinic working round the clock to produce carbon-copy beasts.

Not every animal is blessed with sought-after drooping lips and a tall, elegant neck, but technology now allows wealthy clients to replace their most beautiful camel with one just like it.

At the Reproductive Biotechnology Center, with views of the UAE city’s towering skyscrapers, scientists pore over microscopes while dozens of cloned camels roam outside.

“We have so much demand for cloning camels that we are not able to keep up,” the centre’s scientific director Nisar Wani told AFP.

Beauty pageants are not the only driver of the camel cloning industry. Many customers want to reproduce racing camels, or animals that produce large amounts of milk.

But “beauty queens” are the most popular order. Gulf clients will pay between 200,000 and 400,000 dirham ($54,500-$109,000) to duplicate a dromedary.

The camels are paraded at dusty racetracks around the region and scrutinised by judges, with occasional discoveries of Botox and cosmetic fillers adding a spice of scandal to the high-stakes contests.

Saud Al-Otaibi, who runs a camel auction in Kuwait, said customers’ judgement of the animals’ looks is key to his business.

“The price of the camel is determined according to its beauty, health, and how well known the breed is,” he told AFP.

When it comes to young animals, “customers are keen on seeing the mother to determine its beauty before buying the camel,” he added.

– No going back –

Twelve years ago, Dubai claimed the world’s first cloned camel. 

Injaz, a female whose name means achievement in Arabic, was born on April 8, 2009, after more than five years of work by Wani and others.

From the minute Injaz was born, there was no going back. 

“We are now producing plenty, maybe more than 10 to 20 babies every year. This year we have 28 pregnancies (so far), last year we had 20,” Wani said with pride.

The centre is churning out “racing champions, high milk-producing animals… and winners of beauty contests called Beauty Queens”, added Wani, sitting in a lab next to the preserved body of a cloned camel in a glass container.

Known as “ships of the desert”, and once used for transport across the sands of the Arab peninsula, camels are symbols of traditional Gulf culture.

Now, after being replaced by gas-guzzling SUVs as the main mode of transport, they are used for racing, meat and milk.

“We have cloned some she-camels that produce more than 35 litres of milk a day,” said Wani, compared to an average of five litres in normal camels.

Camel milk is commonly found next to regular milk at supermarkets in the Gulf, while meat products such as camel carpaccio are served in fancy restaurants.

– ‘Saddest moment’ –

Cloning dogs, cows and horses is popular in many countries, although animal rights groups say the process causes undue suffering to the animals that provide the egg cells and carry embryos.

With orders flying into the cloning clinics in the United Arab Emirates, the only such facilities in the Gulf, scientists have developed new techniques to keep up with the pace.

Female camels only give birth to one calf every two years, including a gestation period of 13 months. 

But breeding centres use a surrogacy technique to increase the number of offspring, whether from cloning or traditional breeding.

“In this process which we call multiple ovulation and embryo transfer, we super-stimulate the champion females and breed them with champion males,” explained Wani.

“We collect the embryos from these females after seven to eight days and then we put them in surrogate mothers, which are very ordinary animals.” 

Alternatively, cloned camels can be created by placing DNA from cells in the desired animal’s ovaries into eggs taken from the surrogate mothers.

“These mothers carry the babies to term, and instead of producing one baby at a time in a year, we can produce many calves from these animals.”

Cloning is not just for those who want to own elite camels. Sometimes, clients simply want to reproduce a beloved animal after a sudden death.

Wani, who started working at the clinic in 2003, said his proudest moment was the birth of Injaz — and the worst time was her death.

“She died this year,” he said. “When we came in the morning, she had ruptured her uterus. We tried to save her as much as possible. This was the saddest moment.”