Cloned ferret gives birth in feat that could save it from extinction

A cloned endangered 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 from another in 1988 and successfully mated to produce a pair of offspring.

Antonia and the father, a male black-footed ferret named Urchin, are housed at the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia.

The mother gave birth to three kits, but one passed away shortly after, leaving behind a health male and female that are meeting developmental milestones.

Paul Marinari, senior curator, said: 'The successful breeding and subsequent birth of Antonia's kits marks a major milestone in endangered species conservation.

'The many partners in the Black-footed Ferret Recovery Program continue their innovative and inspirational efforts to save this species and be a model for other conservation programs across the globe.' 

Black-footed ferrets were listed as endangered in 1967, and by 1974, the last known wild ferret population vanished until the 1980s when a small population of 130 was found in Wyoming.  

There are only around 400 black-footed ferrets in the wild and about 250 in breeding programs run by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Antonia was bred from frozen tissue samples collected from a black-footed ferret named Willa, which was injected into an egg of a domesticated ferret. 

The process, called somatic cell cloning, removed DNA tissue from a donor cell and replaced the DNA that already exists in an egg cell.

From there, scientists implanted the altered egg cell into another black-footed ferret and when it is born, it is genetically identical to the donor DNA it came from.

Antonio was born in April, along with her sister Noreen who was also a clone from Willa's genetic tissue.

The two ferrets follow in the footsteps of Elizabeth Ann - the first successful clone from Willa's DNA in 2021 - and although researchers hoped to breed from her, all attempts had failed.

Elizabeth suffered from a reproductive organ issue that was not caused by her being cloned.

Scientists had hoped either Noreen or Antonia would breed and now are thrilled by the groundbreaking achievement. 

'The successful reproduction of a cloned endangered species is a landmark in conservation genetic research, proving that cloning technology can not only help restore genetic diversity but also allow for future breeding, opening new possibilities for species recovery,' NZCBI shared.

'This represents a significant step in safeguarding the future of black-footed ferrets and overcoming the genetic challenges that have hindered recovery efforts.' 

Barbara Durrant, the director of reproductive sciences at the Frozen Zoo, said has estimated that one million species are on the brink of extinction, and this could only be corrected by scientific discoveries like cloning Elizabeth, Noreen and Antonia.

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'If we disappeared, a lot of things would grow back. But some populations are so small, or don't even exist except here, that they would not be able to regenerate without us,' Durrant told CBS News.

In recent years, scientists have cloned other animals including the rhesus monkey named Retro who was born in July 2020 - making it 'the first live and healthy cloned rhesus monkey.'

It 'is a big step forward that has turned impossible to possible,' Falong Lu, an investigator 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 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 species' 'excellent individuals.'