Hello, Elizabeth Ann: Black-footed ferret is first endangered US animal to be cloned

Elizabeth Ann seems like any other black-footed ferret, but she is remarkably different in a species that is already limited in numbers. She is cloned from the genes of an animal that died three decades ago.

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For the first time, scientists have successfully cloned a native endangered species in the United States, The New York Times reported.

Elizabeth Ann was born Dec. 20, 2020, and was cloned from the cells of Willa, another black-footed ferret who lived more than 30 years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a news release.

The genetic breakthrough is the result of a yearslong collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Revive & Restore, ViaGen Pets & Equine, San Diego Zoo Global and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

“Genomics revealed the genetic value that Willa could bring to her species,” Ryan Phelan, the executive director of conservation organization Revive & Restore, told CNN. “But it was a commitment to seeing this species survive that has led to the successful birth of Elizabeth Ann.

“To see her now thriving ushers in a new era for her species and for conservation-dependent species everywhere. She is a win for biodiversity and for genetic rescue.”

“We’re pretty excited -- more along the lines of ecstatic,” Shawn Walker, chief scientific officer with ViaGen Pets and Equine, told National Geographic,

The black-footed ferret is the only native ferret in North America, National Geographic reported. The species was once plentiful in the American West, but it disappeared when farmers and ranchers exterminated prairie dogs, the animal’s primary prey.

The species was believed to be extinct until 1981, when a ranch dog named Shep dropped a dead black-footed ferret on a porch near Meeteetse, Wyoming, the Times reported.

The Fish and Wildlife Service captured the remaining 18 ferrets, but only seven passed on their genes, the Times reported.

Elizabeth Ann follows in the cloning tradition of mammals that began with the 1996 birth of Dolly, who was cloned from a cell taken from the mammary gland of a 6-year-old Finn Dorset sheep and an egg cell taken from a Scottish Blackface sheep.

“The Service sought the expertise of valued recovery partners to help us explore how we might overcome genetic limitations hampering recovery of the black-footed ferret, and we’re proud to make this announcement today,” Noreen Walsh, Director of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Mountain-Prairie Region, said in a news release. “Although this research is preliminary, it is the first cloning of a native endangered species in North America, and it provides a promising tool for continued efforts to conserve the black-footed ferret.”

Cox Media Group