• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

One Of The Most Endangered Mammals On The Planet Just Got Two New Clones

April 18, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

In 2020, the world rejoiced as scientists successfully created a black-footed ferret clone known as Elizabeth Ann using the frozen cells of a deceased individual called Willow. Elizabeth Ann was a boost for the endangered species, Mustela nigripes, and now it’s got two extra playmates: the black-footed ferret clones Antonia and Noreen.

All three of the clones come from the same tissue samples collected from Willa back in 1988 at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s Frozen Zoo, the same repository that’s attempting to use frozen skin to make northern white rhino embryos. Like the rhino skin cells, the use of Willa’s genetic material is hoped to boost the genetic diversity of the living black-footed ferret population, as it contains three times more unique genetic variations than the modern-day average for these animals.

Advertisement

The conservation project is a partnership between the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Revive & Restore, ViaGen Pets & Equine, Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. It aims to overcome genetic obstacles currently hampering efforts to restore the population of black-footed ferrets, whose future is at risk if there isn’t enough genetic diversity left in the pool of survivors. 

Expanding the gene pool with a clone from a deceased animal reduces the risk of inbreeding-associated health problems, which are often seen in “pure-bred” dogs or offspring born from incest, which usually only happens among mammals when there are no other mates to choose from. The reason for this genetic bottleneck is that all black-footed ferrets alive today are born from just seven individuals. A dip in genetic diversity puts them at risk of certain diseases, including sylvatic plague and the canine distemper virus. 

To tackle this, the ferret clones are one of several approaches to try and restore some of the black-footed ferret’s former genetic diversity. It’s hoped that in tandem with habitat conservation projects, it could one day make it possible to reintroduce black-footed ferrets to the wild.

a Black footed Ferret clone

Say hello to Noreen.

Image credit: USFWS National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center

Antonia came into the world at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute in Virginia. Meanwhile, Noreen is housed at the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center in northern Colorado, the same place where Elizabeth Ann resides.

There was hope Elizabeth Ann might have been able to have a few kits of her own by now, but a condition called hydrometra has prevented it. For a quick ferret anatomy class, the females have two uterine horns that are crucial for fertilization. Unfortunately, one of Elizabeth Ann’s never fully developed (which is not believed to be linked to the fact that she is a clone), while the other has filled with fluid, known as hydrometra. 

The black-footed ferret poster girl is otherwise in good health, and efforts to restore a healthy genetic spread for one of the world’s most endangered mammals continue. 

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. The best PlayStation Classic prices and sales for September 2021
  2. Adobe jumps into e-commerce payments business in challenge to Shopify
  3. Strong Geomagnetic Storm Expected Following Coronal Mass Ejection About To Hit Earth
  4. Chang’e-5 Finds Iron On The Moon, Solving A Mystery The Apollo Missions Couldn’t

Source Link: One Of The Most Endangered Mammals On The Planet Just Got Two New Clones

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Should You Wash Your Chicken?
  • The Drunk Hypothesis: Did Booze Enable The Rise Of Human Civilization?
  • Some Sharks Can Walk, Because Apparently One Mode Of Transportation Isn’t Enough
  • Black Olives Aren’t What You Think They Are
  • Uranus Has A New Dance Partner Orbiting The Sun Every 113 Years – And Might Even Be In A Throuple
  • Ball Lightning? Video From Alberta, Canada Shows Strange Glowing Orb Moving Slowly Across A Field
  • Listen To The Eerie Plasma Recording By Voyager 1 As It Crossed The Bow Shock Of Jupiter
  • How Should NASA Respond If We Found An Alien Technosignature?
  • First-Ever Footage Of Tooting Two-Toed Sloth Dispels Idea That Sloths Don’t Fart
  • Over 86,000 Earthquakes Have Been Detected Under Yellowstone Using AI
  • China Begins Building The World’s Largest $167 Billion Hydropower Megadam
  • COVID-19 May Have Aged Our Brains, Even Before We Actually Caught The Virus
  • “King Cheetah”: Hybrid, New Species, Or Mutation?
  • New Plasma Waves Over Jupiter’s North Pole Have Never Been Seen Before In The Solar System
  • American Astronomer Finds Two New Moons Around Jupiter. His Record May Never Be Beaten.
  • Optimists’ Brains Work The Same Way, While Pessimists Dream Up Their Own Disasters
  • The Great Attractor: Our Galaxy Is Being Pulled Towards An “Unknown Structure” 300 Million Light-Years Across
  • Could We Be On Track Towards A Universal Cancer Vaccine? New Findings Say: Maybe
  • The “Weekend Effect” Of Weather: Is It Rainier On Saturdays And Sundays?
  • Forget Polar Bears: The Largest Bear To Live In North America Was The 3.3-Meter-Tall Short-Faced Bear
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version