Cloning of animals leads to first cloned endangered wolves

Cloning wolves
Image courtesy of Kamia the Wolf

First there was Dolly, the sheep born in 1996 at the Roslin Institute in Scotland (named after Dolly Parton since the sheep was cloned from a mammary cell). Then there was CC the cat and Ralph the rat.

Then, two years ago this month, on April 24, 2005, the first dog was cloned and named Snuppy. “Snu” represented the initials of the Seoul National University in South Korea where this remarkable and extremely difficult creation was successfully cloned. Of the thousand embryo transfers completed, only three were successful and of these, one miscarried, one died at birth, and one lived and was named Snuppy.

Snuppy was made from cells taken from the ear of a male Afghan hound. Scientists took the genetic material from the ear cell and placed it into an empty egg cell. This egg was then stimulated to start dividing and develop into an embryo. Once growing, it was transferred to Snuppy’s surrogate mother, a yellow Labrador. The Afghan pup was born by caesarean section after a full 60 days of pregnancy. Independent testing by world agencies has confirmed that Snuppy is indeed a clone.

This past December 2006, this same team announced that three more dogs identical to Snuppy (named Bona, Peace, Hope) had been successfully cloned. At a press conference held two weeks ago on March 26, 2007, they unveiled the first cloned wolves named Snuwolf and Snuwolffy, born 18 months ago. The two wolves, an endangered species, and are presently being held at a zoo in Seoul and undergoing independent testing to confirm their origin. These results will soon be published in the prestigious journal, Cloning and Stem Cells.

Researchers state that clones can be a valuable tool in finding technologies useful for curing human diseases and for preserving endangered or threatened species. I just hope the world considers all the issues very carefully before rushing to name someone “Snuman”.