Little Nicky (born October 17, 2004) is the first commercially produced clone of a cat. He was produced from the

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

of a 17-year-old

Maine Coon The Maine Coon is a large Domestication, domesticated breeds of cats, cat breed. One of the oldest natural breeds in North America, the breed originated in the U.S. state of Maine, where it is the official List of U.S. state mammals, state cat ...

cat named Nicky who died in 2003. Little Nicky's owner, a north

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

woman named Julie (whose last name was not released) paid $50,000 to have Nicky cloned. Little Nicky's owner reported that the cat shared many characteristics with his predecessor, including a similar personality and appearance.

Origin and cloning

The cloning of Little Nicky was performed by the

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

-based company

Genetic Savings & Clone Genetic Savings & Clone, Inc. was a company headquartered in Sausalito, California that offered commercial pet gene banking and cloning services, between 2004 and 2006. The company was launched by billionaire John Sperling, the founder of Universit ...

, which later closed in 2006. This followed the first successful cloning of a cat by the company in conjunction with

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. The cloning was performed by the chromatin transfer technique, a variant of nuclear transfer. The cloning of Little Nicky was a result of an offer by the company called the "Nine Lives Extravaganza" launched in 2004.

Ethical controversy

Groups such as the

Humane Society of the United States Humane World for Animals, formerly the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and Humane Society International (HSI), is a global nonprofit organization that focuses on animal welfare and opposes animal-related cruelties of national scop ...

, the

Best Friends Animal Society Best Friends Animal Society, (BFAS) is an American nonprofit 501(c)(3) animal welfare organization based in Kanab, Utah, with satellite offices in Atlanta, Georgia, Bentonville, Arkansas, Houston, Texas, Los Angeles, California, New York City, an ...

, and other groups for

animal welfare Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...

spoke out against the creation of pet clones such as Little Nicky. They emphasized that the $50,000 invested in the cloning of animals could be utilized for the care of existing animals in shelters, or invested in programs for spaying and neutering homeless shelter pet populations. Little Nicky reportedly had health problems during his life. These health problems were not proven to be related to the cloning process. His owner claims that the original Nicky never had the health problems that the clone had. The company that cloned Little Nicky believes that his health issues were acquired and not genetic.

References

{{Reflist 2004 animal births 2004 in biotechnology Cloned cats Individual cats in the United States

Origin and cloning

Ethical controversy

See also

References