Peking duck

China claimed a scientific breakthrough yesterday when it reported that a researcher had artificially bred the world's first eggless duck, Reuter reports from Peking.

Li Zandong, an associate professor at Peking Agricultural University, bred a duckling outside an eggshell 'for the first time in the world,' the official Xinhua news agency said. 'The achievement is important for studies of the nutritional and environmental conditions necessary for the raising of healthy ducks,' the agency said.