Cloned black-footed ferret gives birth to kits in adorable world-first

[Still Waters]

For the first time ever, two black-footed ferret kits have been born to a cloned endangered animal. The mother is a ferret named Antonia who made the news when she was cloned from an old tissue sample, becoming one of three black-footed clones alive today.

Antonia and her sister clones, Elizabeth-Ann and Noreen, were created using the frozen cells of a deceased individual called Willa who died in 1988. Her genetic material was preserved thanks to the Frozen Zoo at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and a good thing too as her DNA contains three times the genetic variations found in modern-day black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes).

The reason for this genetic bottleneck is that all black-footed ferrets alive today are born from just seven individuals.

https://www.iflscience.com/cloned-black-footed-ferret-gives-birth-to-kits-in-adorable-world-first-76654

https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2024-11/advancements-black-footed-ferret-conservation-continue-new-offspring-cloned

[Still Waters]

Cloned black-footed ferret birth sparks ethical debate—why that is a big step, but not a substitute, for conservation

For the first time, an endangered black-footed ferret named Antonia that was cloned from cryogenically-preserved tissue has given birth to two kits.

It's a mouthful; and a technological breakthrough.

But Ronald Sandler, a professor of philosophy and director of the Ethics Institute at Northeastern University, says that the birth doesn't mean biotechnology can replace traditional conservation practices.

"None of this is a substitute for the more traditional conservation practices like habitat protection, limits on taking, pollution remediation, etc. It's just another tool for species that are already very at-risk," says Sandler, who has analyzed the ethics of the black-footed ferret cloning program. "This is last-ditch, emergency effort kind of stuff."

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-cloned-black-footed-ferret-birth.html