Scientists at Sinogene Biotechnology in China have announced the successful cloning of an arctic wolf in the country. The news, reported by Global Times, shows the birth of ‘Maya’, a small creature belonging to the Canis lupus arctos family. This arctic wolf pup is over 100 days old and in very good health
The first of them to be cloned worldwide
Maya was cloned using DNA collected from an adult arctic wolf that died in captivity at Harbin Polarland, a wildlife park in northeast China. The original Maya, who was born in Canada before being sent to China in 2006, died of old age.
The cloning was successfully completed “after 2 years of arduous efforts”, said Mi Jidong, general manager of Sinogene, at the company’s press conference. There, a video was shown about the young creature, who was already 100 days old. He is currently in very good health.
In order to achieve this, scientists originally created 137 arctic wolf embryos by fusing skin cells from the original specimen with immature eggs from dogs. Of those embryos, 85 were successfully transplanted into 7 surrogate beagles. Of those transplanted embryos, only one fully developed during pregnancy: Maya.
The researchers used beagle surrogates because there were not enough female wolves in captivity for the scientists’ experiments. Fortunately, dogs share enough DNA with wolves for the hybrid pregnancy to be successful.
Now to live with others of the same species
Maya now lives with her surrogate mother at a Sinogene lab in Xuzhou, eastern China. But the wolf cub will eventually be transferred to Harbin Polarland to live with other arctic wolves. However, park keepers believe she will have to be slowly introduced to the rest of the pack due to her isolated upbringing.
Sinogene also revealed that a second arctic wolf clone, created with DNA from an unknown male, was due to be born on Thursday, September 22nd, of the current year. However, so far there have been no confirmed reports of the cub’s birth.
The institute specializes in the cloning of dead pets, such as dogs and cats, for private clients. But this time around, he is putting his expertise to work on projects to help preserve endangered species. While it is true that arctic wolves are not at the risk threshold, climate change is likely to disrupt their food supply for decades to come.
