Animals That Made Headlines Overnight
Elizabeth Ann is a black-footed ferret, a species that was thought to be extinct in the 1970s, but as it turned out a few years later, a small number of the population did survive — seven in total (via CPR News). Today, there are around 500 black-footed ferrets in North America, but due to low genetic diversity, they can only survive with the help of medical interventions, such as vaccinations and insecticides.
For that reason, Elizabeth Ann was created — to diversify the gene pool and help the black-footed ferrets become healthier. Frozen Zoo in San Diego kept DNA cryopreserved animal tissue samples of the ferrets they found in the early 1980s, and one of them was Willa. With the help of Revive & Restore organization, this sample was sent to ViaGen Pets, where they transformed the material into embryos. One was implanted into a domestic ferret animal, and Elizabeth Ann was born.
But she will not be the only clone — there are more identical black-foot ferrets on the way. When they arrive, they will all live in the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. The conservationists hope they will be able to clone another DNA sample and create a male ferret this time. This way, Elizabeth Ann could reproduce with the clone of an animal existing at the same time as Willa, producing a brand-new set of baby ferrets. They would be then released into the wild, where they would breed with the feral population.
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