Elizabeth Ann (born December 10, 2020) is a
black-footed ferret
The black-footed ferret (''Mustela nigripes''), also known as the American polecatHeptner, V. G. (Vladimir Georgievich); Nasimovich, A. A; Bannikov, Andrei Grigorovich; Hoffmann, Robert S. (2001)''Mammals of the Soviet Union''Volume: v. 2, pt. 1 ...
, the first U.S. endangered species to be
cloned
Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical genomes, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction; this reproduction of an organism by itself without ...
. The animal was cloned using the frozen cells from Willa, a black-footed female ferret who died in the 1980s and had no living descendants. The cloning process was led by
Revive & Restore
Revive & Restore is a non-profit wildlife conservation organization focused on use of biotechnology in conservation. Headquartered in Sausalito, California, the organization's mission is to enhance biodiversity through the genetic rescue of enda ...
, a biodiversity non-profit.
Background
Black-footed ferrets are the only ferret species native to the United States. The black-footed ferret is one of the most endangered and rarest land mammals in North America; a small pack of them was found in Wyoming in 1981. The limited genetic diversity found among the pack put the species at risk. Scientists sent genetic material from Willa to
San Diego Zoo
The San Diego Zoo is a zoo in San Diego, California, United States, located in Balboa Park (San Diego), Balboa Park. It began with a collection of animals left over from the 1915 Panama–California Exposition that were brought together by its ...
’s Frozen Zoo in 1988. Willa's egg was implanted in a surrogate domestic ferret in November 2020, to avoid putting an endangered ferret at risk. Elizabeth Ann was delivered via
c-section
Caesarean section, also known as C-section, cesarean, or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure
Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma ...
on December 10.
Life
Elizabeth Ann will live in
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
and be studied for scientific purposes; she will not be
released into the wild. By February 2022, Elizabeth Ann had reached puberty and scientists were looking for a viable mate. A panel discussion, organized by the Draper Natural History Museum in October 2022, informed the public that Elizabeth Ann had a
hysterectomy
Hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus and cervix. Supracervical hysterectomy refers to removal of the uterus while the cervix is spared. These procedures may also involve removal of the ovaries (oophorectomy), fallopian tubes ( salpi ...
for unspecified reasons, but also that other clones were on their way. Elizabeth Ann remained healthy but was unable to breed due to hydrometra, a condition causing fluid retention within the uterus, alongside an underdeveloped
uterine horn
The uterine horns (cornua of uterus) are the points in the upper uterus where the fallopian tubes or oviducts exit to meet the ovaries. They are one of the points of attachment for the round ligament of uterus (the other being the mons pubis). The ...
. As these conditions are common in black-footed ferrets, they are not believed to be linked to the cloning process.
Other clones
In April 2024, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the birth of two new black-footed ferret clones, Noreen and Antonia, who were cloned from the same genetic material as Elizabeth Ann. Noreen was born at the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center in Colorado, while Antonia resides at the Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute near Front Royal, Virginia. Both were healthy and reaching expected developmental and behavioral milestones. The Service and its research partners planned to breed Noreen and Antonia once they reached reproductive maturity later in 2024.
Antonia gave birth to a litter of three kits in June 2024, two of which (one female, one male) survived.
See also
*
List of cloned animals Banteng
*A Javan banteng calf was cloned from frozen cells using a cow as a surrogate, delivered via c-section on April 1, 2003, then hand raised at the San Diego Wild Animal Parks Infant Isolation Unit. It died due to an injury when it was less t ...
References
{{reflist
2020 animal births
Cloned animals
Individual musteloids