Scientists Have Cloned A Black-Footed Ferret – NowThis

Scientists have cloned an endangered black-footed ferret.

Elizabeth Ann was born on December 10, 2020, after being duplicated from the genes of another black-footed ferret named Willa, who died in 1988.

Cloning is a process that copies the DNA from one organism to create an exact genetic replica of that same organism.

The same company that cloned Elizabeth Ann also cloned an endangered Przewalski horse, a Mongolian wild horse, from 40-year-old DNA in the summer of 2020. The black-footed ferret is the first U.S. endangered species to be cloned.

Conservationists from the nonprofit Revive & Restore think that cloning could eventually bring back extinct species, but they say that conservation of these species is key.

How can we actually apply some of those advances in science for conservation? Because conservation needs more tools in the toolbox. Thats our whole motivation. Cloning is just one of those tools, said Ryan Phelan, the co-founder and executive director of Revive & Restore.

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Scientists Have Cloned A Black-Footed Ferret - NowThis