STRANGE POOCH THAT GLOWS IN THE DARK

Glow-in-the-dark dog

The dog's paw in daylight and in the dark. Pic from www.thesun.co.uk

This strange pooch must give burglars a shock - he glows in the dark.

South Korean scientists created fluorescent dog Tagon using cloning techniques that could one day help cure diseases in humans like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

The cute Beagle, now two, appears bright green under ultraviolet light when antibiotic drugs are put in his food.

He was cloned using the same cell technology used to make the world's first cloned dog, Snuppy, in 2005.

Researcher Lee Byeong-chun of Seoul National University said: "The creation of Tagon opens new horizons since the gene injected to make the dog glow can be substituted with genes that trigger fatal human diseases."

Dogs were chosen for the £1.8m project because they share 268 illnesses in common with humans, said science journal Genesis, which published the discovery.

This amazing mutt is not the first glow-in-the-dark creature though - US boffins made a fluorescent cat called Mr Green Genes three years ago.

By introducing a fluorescence protein into the kitty's DNA, mucus in the ginger tom's nose, eyes and ears made them look green.

It's a-miaow-zing what they can do in a lab these days.