Livestock Cloning:
The Future of Agriculture
What is Livestock Cloning?
Learn about the basics, and some examples.
A Brief History
Animal cloning has been around for decades, but livestock cloning is fairly recent. In 1952, Robert Briggs and Thomas King conducted the very first nuclear transfer, a concept integral to animal cloning. Then, only years later, in 1984, Steen Willadsen successfully cloned 3 lambs through nuclear transfer, using nuclei from embryos. Finally, the well-known Dolly the sheep was created in 1996 in the Roslin Institute by Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell, who used an adult somatic cell instead of an
embryonic cell. From then on, Rhesus monkeys, more sheep, goats, cows, and endangered species such as the gaur and mouflon were cloned, with varying degrees of success. For more information about the history of animal cloning, click here. (C-1.1)
Examples of Animal Cloning
Dolly the sheep (1996) was the first animal to successfully be cloned using adult somatic cells, rather than embryonic cells. She was created from the nucleus of an adult udder cell, which was transplanted into an egg, a uterus and then another uterus, finally forming a lamb.
Prometea the horse (2003) was the first horse clone. In an experiment involving 328 embryos, she was the only one to survive.
Dewey the deer (2003) was a white-tailed deer who was cloned for the purpose of preserving other endangered deer species, like Key West deer.
CC the cat (2001) was the first household pet to be cloned. Surprisingly, she had a more open personality, different markings, and a sleeker body than her “parent” Rainbow, showing that clones aren't necessarily carbon copies of the original - only the genes are the same.
Noah the gaur (2001) was cloned as part of an effort to preserve endangered species. However, he only stayed alive for a short period of time, rendering the effort unsuccessful but serving as an example of the possibilities of cloning for preserving biodiversity.
Source for all Examples: C-1.3
