The species, the only native weasel in North America, was once considered extinct, but was brought back from disappearance after a Wyoming farmer discovered a small population on his land in 1981.
A team of American scientists has successfully cloned a black-legged weasel using frozen cells from a dead wild animal, the first time that an endangered native species has been cloned in the United States.
The recovery efforts of the black-legged weasel with the goal of increasing genetic diversity and resistance to diseases took a bold step on December 10, with the birth of Elizabeth Ann, created from the cells of Willa, a weasel who lived more than 30 years ago, indicated the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
“Although this research is preliminary, it is the first cloning of an endangered native species in North America and provides a promising tool for continued efforts to conserve the black-legged weasel,” said Noreen Walsh, director of the Wildlife Service. Mountain Prairie Region.
The species, the only native weasel in North America, was once considered extinct, but was brought back from disappearance after a Wyoming farmer discovered a small population on his land in 1981. They were captured to start a breeding program in captivity to recover the species.
But only seven of the original wild animals have reproduced, and all the weasels alive today are closely related. This limits the genetic diversity of species, creating challenges for resistance to changing environments and emerging threats of disease.
Elizabeth Ann is a genetic copy of Willa, a black-legged weasel caught among the last wild individuals, who died in the 1980s and has no living descendants.
The Wyoming Game & Fish Department had a vision to preserve their genes and sent tissue samples from Willa to the Frozen Zoo at SanDiego Zoo Global in 1988. Years later, these genes provided viable cell cultures for the project.
The team – which includes the biotechnology conservation group Revive & Restore, the private pet cloning company ViaGen Pets & Equine, SanDiego Zoo Global and the Zoos and Aquariums Association – is working to produce more weasel clones -foot in the coming months as part of the investigation.
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