Black-Footed Ferret Is First Cloned North American Endangered Species
19 Feb 2021
Scientists announced they successfully cloned the first North American endangered species at a Fort Collins, Colorado, facility on Thursday.
“Elizabeth Ann” is the first of a new generation of black-footed ferrets, born with the genes of a ferret named “Willa,” who died over 30 years ago, in 1988. At the time, the Wyoming Game & Fish Department froze Willa’s DNA. The tissue samples were transferred to San Diego Zoo Global’s “Frozen Zoo” in 1988. Now, decades after her death, her genetic offspring is alive in Colorado.
Alongside the announcement, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tweeted pictures of the new arrival and her domestic ferret surrogate mother.