It's too bad. I like that tortoise! Can't believe their is only one left.
The one that really interests me is the Lynx. It's a really interesting looking cat.
I would hope some of the governments of those countries (like the Spanish government trying to protect the Lynx) would step up and try to preserve these animals.
Hard to believe how close to extiniction some of those species are.
Problem with cloning is that we havent done so yet and had a cloned animal reproduce.
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"Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it." - Niels Bohr
"many-worlds interpretation" (MWI) which postulates that at the quantum level, everything that can happen does happen, and that each possible outcome branches the universe into another
Dolly the sheep may have been the world's most famous clone, but she was not the first. Cloning creates a genetically identical copy of an animal or plant. Many animals - including frogs, mice, sheep, and cows - had been cloned before Dolly. Plants are often cloned - when you take a cutting, you are producing a clone. Human identical twins are also clones.
So Dolly was not the first clone, and she looked like any other sheep, so why did she cause so much excitement and concern? Because she was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, rather than an embryo. This was a major scientific achievement, but also raised ethical concerns.
Since 1996, when Dolly was born, other sheep have been cloned from adult cells, as have mice, rabbits, horses and donkeys, pigs, goats and cattle. In 2004 a mouse was cloned using a nucleus from an olfactory neuron, showing that the donor nucleus can come from a tissue of the body that does not normally divide.
How was Dolly produced?
Producing an animal clone from an adult cell is obviously much more complex and difficult than growing a plant from a cutting. So when scientists working at the Roslin Institute in Scotland produced Dolly, the only lamb born from 277 attempts, it was a major news story around the world.
To produce Dolly, the scientists used the nucleus of an udder cell from a six-year-old Finn Dorset white sheep. The nucleus contains nearly all the cell's genes. They had to find a way to 'reprogram' the udder cells - to keep them alive but stop them growing – which they achieved by altering the growth medium (the ‘soup’ in which the cells were kept alive). Then they injected the cell into an unfertilised egg cell which had had its nucleus removed, and made the cells fuse by using electrical pulses. The unfertilised egg cell came from a Scottish Blackface ewe.
When the scientists had managed to fuse the nucleus from the adult white sheep cell with the egg cell from the black-faced sheep, they needed to make sure that the resulting cell would develop into an embryo. They cultured it for six or seven days to see if it divided and developed normally, before implanting it into a surrogate mother, another Scottish Blackface ewe. Dolly had a white face.
From 277 cell fusions, 29 early embryos developed and were implanted into 13 surrogate mothers. But only one pregnancy went to full term, and the 6.6kg Finn Dorset lamb 6LLS (alias Dolly) was born after 148 days.
Why are scientists interested in cloning?
The main reason that the scientists at Roslin wanted to be able to clone sheep and other large animals was connected with their research aimed at producing medicines in the milk of such animals. Researchers have managed to transfer human genes that produce useful proteins into sheep and cows, so that they can produce, for instance, the blood clotting agent factor IX to treat haemophilia or alpha-1-antitrypsin to treat cystic fibrosis and other lung conditions.
Cloned animals could also be developed that would produce human antibodies against infectious diseases and even cancers. ‘Foreign’ genes have been transplanted into zebra fish, which are widely used in laboratories, and embryos cloned from these fish express the foreign protein. If this technique can be applied to mammalian cells and the cells cultured to produce cloned animals, these could then breed conventionally to form flocks of genetically engineered animals all producing medicines in their milk.
There are other medical and scientific reasons for the interest in cloning. It is already being used alongside genetic techniques in the development of animal organs for transplant into humans (xenotransplantation). Combining such genetic techniques with cloning of pigs (achieved for the first time in March 2000) would lead to a reliable supply of suitable donor organs. The use of pig organs has been hampered by the presence of a sugar, alpha gal, on pig cells, but in 2002 scientists succeeded in knocking out the gene that makes it, and these ‘knockout’ pigs could be bred naturally. However, there are still worries about virus transmission.
The study of animal clones and cloned cells could lead to greater understanding of the development of the embryo and of ageing and age-related diseases. Cloned mice become obese, with related symptoms such as raised plasma insulin and leptin levels, though their offspring do not and are normal. Cloning could be used to create better animal models of diseases, which could in turn lead to further progress in understanding and treating those diseases. It could even enhance biodiversity by ensuring the continuation of rare breeds and endangered species.
What happened to Dolly?
Dolly, probably the most famous sheep in the world, lived a pampered existence at the Roslin Institute. She mated and produced normal offspring in the normal way, showing that such cloned animals can reproduce. Born on 5 July 1996, she was euthanased on 14 February 2003, aged six and a half. Sheep can live to age 11 or 12, but Dolly suffered from arthritis in a hind leg joint and from sheep pulmonary adenomatosis, a virus-induced lung tumour to which sheep raised indoors are prone. On 2 February 2003, Australia's first cloned sheep died unexpectedly at the age of two years and 10 months. The cause of death was unknown and the carcass was quickly cremated as it was decomposing.
Dolly’s chromosomes were are a little shorter than those of other sheep, but in most other ways she was the same as any other sheep of her chronological age. However, her early ageing may reflect that she was raised from the nucleus of a 6-year old sheep. Study of her cells also revealed that the very small amount of DNA outside the nucleus, in the mitochondria of the cells, is all inherited from the donor egg cell, not from the donor nucleus like the rest of her DNA. So she is not a completely identical copy. This finding could be important for sex-linked diseases such as haemophilia, and certain neuromuscular, brain and kidney conditions that are passed on through the mother's side of the family only.
Improving the technology
Scientists are working on ways to improve the technology. For example, when two genetically identical cloned mice embryos are combined, the aggregate embryo is more likely to survive to birth. Improvements in the culture medium may also help.
Ethical concerns and regulation
Most of the ethical concerns about cloning relate to the possibility that it might be used to clone humans. There would be enormous technical difficulties. As the technology stands at present, it would have to involve women willing to donate perhaps hundreds of eggs, surrogate pregnancies with high rates of miscarriage and stillbirth, and the possibility of premature ageing and high cancer rates for any children so produced. However, in 2004 South Korean scientists announced that they had cloned 30 human embryos, grown them in the laboratory until they were a hollow ball of cells, and produced a line of stem cells from them. Further news is awaited.
In the USA, President Clinton asked the National Bioethics Commission and Congress to examine the issues, and in the UK the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, the Human Embryology and Fertilisation Authority and the Human Genetics Advisory Commission all consulted widely and advised that human cloning should be banned. The Council of Europe has banned human cloning: in fact most countries have banned the use of cloning to produce human babies (human reproductive cloning). However, there is one important medical aspect of cloning technology that could be applied to humans, which people may find less objectionable. This is therapeutic cloning (or cell nucleus replacement) for tissue engineering, in which tissues, rather than a baby, are created.
In therapeutic cloning, single cells would be taken from a person and 'reprogrammed' to create stem cells, which have the potential to develop into any type of cell in the body. When needed, the stem cells could be thawed and then induced to grow into particular types of cell such as heart, liver or brain cells that could be used in medical treatment. Reprogramming cells is likely to prove technically difficult.
Therapeutic cloning research is already being conducted in animals, and stem cells have been grown by this method and transplanted back into the original donor animal. In humans, this technique would revolutionise cell and tissue transplantation as a method of treating diseases. However, it is a very new science and has raised ethical concerns. In the UK a group headed by the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Liam Donaldson, has recommended that research on early human embryos should be allowed. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act was amended in 2001 to allow the use of embryos for stem cell research and consequently the HFEA has the responsibility for regulating all embryonic stem cell research in the UK. There is a potential supply of early embryos as patients undergoing in-vitro fertilisation usually produce a surplus of fertilised eggs.
As far as animal cloning is concerned, all cloning for research or medical purposes in the UK must be approved by the Home Office under the strict controls of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. This safeguards animal welfare while allowing important scientific and medical research to go ahead.
2004
uh...?
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Book of Cash Chapter 2: Verse 11- Do not PM or IM me until you have exhausted every other way.
First off, an opinion cannot be wrong....its an OPINION
Ok, good. In my opinion, you're an idiot. Good thing I can't be wrong!
Timothy 2:12
Kind of off topic here, but we know how to clone so none of these animals should be near extinction
We do know how to clone animals, but there is the "is it right" aspect that they will battle with people with. Plus with so few animals they wouldn't want to risk killing one of them if something were to go wrong in the cloning process.
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"It's always a bad play when the other team scores." - John Madden
We do know how to clone animals, but there is the "is it right" aspect that they will battle with people with. Plus with so few animals they wouldn't want to risk killing one of them if something were to go wrong in the cloning process.
Killing one of them? You can clone something dead guy.
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I am a Moderator
Extremists are like slinkys... Ultimately useless in the grand scheme of things... But still brings a smile to the face when you push them down a flight of stairs.
And if something has been dead for two days.. I'd think it'd be pretty easy to do if we damn near do it for something that's been dead for thousands of years.
Basically... If there is blood, even dried... You have DNA.
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I am a Moderator
Extremists are like slinkys... Ultimately useless in the grand scheme of things... But still brings a smile to the face when you push them down a flight of stairs.
Yup there is a ton of stuff we can do with DNA... But people whom think their morals are more than the morals of people who want to use this technology is holding it up in some cases...
I personally do not see the problem with cloning animals, especially those which we as humans have put in this situation by destroying their habitats. Now here's a question, let's say we clone Lonesome George...how do we go about getting a female one to allow this species to survive on its own and not just frequent clonings?
Well, I think there are more than just moral implications at stake when it comes to cloning.
I believe every time you clone something, the DNA further breaks down. Of course, if you just intend to clone just a few more animals in order for them to breed, such as is the case with the one remaining turtle, then I don't see why it wouldn't be done.
There must be some reason other than moral implications they wouldn't clone some of these animals. At least, that is what I'd assume. Hmm, I'm quite interested to find out now..hah.
All the problems for cloning seem to be political, not so scientific even though the rate is low that a clone will work or survive. (hey I listened a little in biology class these past few weeks)
There are a number of concerns religion, ethics, and rights of the clone and such... Iam all for the cloning and stem cell research as far as making body parts but as far as whole humans it would be tough to end a life to save my own medically speaking but in defense of my kids and wife that be a different story there seems to be limits...
Why does everyone think you have to end a life to clone something or someone? Come on. You can clone just by drawing blood, taking a hair folical or swabing someones cheak. All you need is DNA, the same as you need to do a paternaty test.
And Clones are not exact copies either. They take an egg, extract the original DNA, insert the clone DNA, zap it with an electrical charge and bingo there is your clone. The egg still has to grow and go through the whole process of being born and growing up and all that stuff so that by the time its grown its a whole different animal or person. Its not even the same as a twin because its not born at the same time and raised under the same circumstances.
As far as cloning just for organs.... well they are already figuring out how to modify Pigs DNA to make more human like organs. Now all they need is your specific DNA, put it in the Pig and he make you a back up heart... I suppose you are not for killing the pig either unless you are going to eat it to live... But you would need the organ to live too so whats the difference... and I am sure you can even eat the pig that grew your organ if you wanted, though that might be too much like eating yourself.
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"Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it." - Niels Bohr
"many-worlds interpretation" (MWI) which postulates that at the quantum level, everything that can happen does happen, and that each possible outcome branches the universe into another
I know you dont have to kill something to clone... My point was that it would be tought to clone another me just to harvest future body parts... This I believe is where the delema is...
Human pig pretty far stretch there... If I belonged to PETA I would have issues though...LOL
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