An endangered cloned species has given birth in what scientists say is a “groundbreaking achievement” that could save it from extinction.
The black-footed ferret, named Antonia, was created from the genetic material and tissue of another in 1988 and successfully mated to produce a pair of offspring.
Antonia and her father, a black-footed male ferret named Urchin, are housed in the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia.
The mother gave birth to three cubs, but one died shortly after, leaving behind a healthy male and female who are reaching developmental milestones.
Paul Marinari, lead curator, said: “The successful reproduction and subsequent birth of Antonia’s pups marks an important milestone in the conservation of endangered species.
“The Black-footed Ferret Recovery Program’s many partners continue their innovative and inspiring efforts to save this species and serve as a model for other conservation programs around the world.”
Black-footed ferrets were listed as endangered in 1967, and in 1974, the last known population of wild ferrets disappeared until the 1980s, when a small population of 130 was found in Wyoming.
There are only about 400 black-footed ferrets in the wild and about 250 in breeding programs run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Male and female offspring are healthy and reaching developmental milestones.
They were born to Antonio, who was cloned from frozen tissue samples collected from a black-footed ferret named Willa.
Antonia was raised from frozen tissue samples collected from a black-footed ferret named Willa, which were injected into an egg from a domesticated ferret.
The process, called somatic cell cloning, removed DNA tissue from a donor cell and replaced DNA that already exists in an egg.
From there, the scientists implanted the altered egg into another black-footed ferret, and when it is born, it is genetically identical to the DNA of the donor from which it came.
Antonio was born in April, along with his sister Noreen, who was also a clone of Willa’s genetic tissue.
The two ferrets follow in the footsteps of Elizabeth Ann, the first successful clone of Willa’s DNA in 2021, and although researchers hoped to reproduce from her, all attempts failed.
Elizabeth suffered from a problem with her reproductive organs that was not caused by her cloning.
Scientists hoped that Noreen or Antonia would reproduce and are now excited about this groundbreaking achievement.
“The successful reproduction of an endangered cloned species is a milestone in conservation genetics research, as it demonstrates that cloning technology can not only help restore genetic diversity but also enable future reproduction, opening up new possibilities for recovery of species,” shared the NZCBI.
Researchers are hopeful about the birth and say the kits could be the start to reviving the black-footed ferret population.
“This represents an important step in safeguarding the future of black-footed ferrets and overcoming genetic challenges that have hampered recovery efforts.”
Barbara Durrant, director of reproductive sciences at the Frozen Zoo, said an estimated one million species are on the brink of extinction, and this could only be corrected through scientific discoveries such as the cloning of Elizabeth, Noreen and Antonia.
‘If we disappeared, many things would grow again. But some populations are so small, or don’t even exist except here, that they couldn’t regenerate without us,” Durrant said. CBS News.
In recent years, scientists have cloned other animals, including the rhesus monkey named Retro, which was born in July 2020, making it “the first living, healthy cloned rhesus monkey.”
“It’s a big step forward that has become impossible and has become possible,” Falong Lu, a researcher at the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, told CNN.
Earlier this year, China became the first country to successfully clone Tibetan goats using the same process that scientists used to clone Dolly the sheep in 1996.
The goats were cloned from males in an attempt to “restore and preserve” their genetics from the “excellent individuals” of the species.