Endangered Sheep Cloned

JoeyPea writes "Italian scientists have successfully cloned an endangered sheep, called the European mouflon, which is found in Sardinia, Corsica and Cyprus. A domestic sheep was used as a surrogate. This marks the first time an endangered mammal has been cloned and survived past birth."

Comments

No T. Rex

[JJ]

Alas, DNA decays at a slow but perceptible rate. Although using several copies (as in a whole cell worth) allows small errors to be dealt with there are two problems with cloning T. rex. First, the DNA is millions of years old so the errors are huge. Second, whole cells are unlikely to be found. The Tasmanian wolf is a more likely candidate for back from extinction. Several pups are available in formaldhyde.

Re:Still the same thoughts from Dolly

[Shook]

So doctors say that this can be used in research fo cures for diseases....Well, most of these diseases exist because they are induced by current technologies (skin, lung, etc.). If we didn't come up with such harmful things in the first place, then we wouldn't have to invent more things (who knows what harm will come of them) to cure these diseases.

I don't follow you. While many of our diseases are caused by self-inflicted behavior (smoking, exposure to chemicals, bad diet), most other diseases are not.

The goal of Ian Wilmut, the scientist who cloned Dolly, was to produce transgenic animals that would secrete drugs in their milk. He did that, with another clone, named Polly. This sheep secreted human factor IX, which is used to treat hemophilia B. This disease is inherited, and is not caused by technology.