A cloned female black-footed ferret named Antonia has successfully given birth to cubs. Two of the three newborns survived, which became the first case of successful reproduction of a cloned animal of this species, snob.ru reports with reference to Interesting Engineering.
Antonia was created using genetic material from Villa's ferret, which has been preserved since 1988 at the San Diego Zoo. This achievement is especially valuable for increasing the population's genetic diversity, said Paul Marinari, senior curator at the National Zoo and the Smithsonian Institution's Conservation Biology Institute.
The success story began in 2020 with the birth of the first clone, Elizabeth Ann. Although she was infertile, her arrival paved the way for the creation of fertile clones, Noreen and Antonia. The latter successfully produced offspring with a male named Urchin.
The program is especially significant given the species’ dramatic history. Black-footed ferrets were thought to be extinct in the 1980s until a small group was discovered in Wyoming. The current population descends from just seven individuals found in the wild, making genetic diversity critical to the species’ survival.
Currently, as part of a population recovery program, 150 to 220 ferrets are released into the wild each year in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service emphasizes that the new genetic lines significantly increase the species' chances of survival in the wild.