A Chinese cloning company Sinogene has presented the birth of the first cloned wolf of the Arctic wolf (Canis lupus arctos).

The cloning process was carried out with a surrogate mother of a beagle breed.

A cloned wolf named Maya and her beagle mother were introduced to the world in a short video during a press conference in Beijing on Monday (9/19).

According to a Sinogene representative, the video was released 100 days after Maya was born on June 10 in a laboratory in Beijing.

Generally, Sinogene specializes in cloning dead pets, such as cats, dogs, and horses, for private clients. But quoted world timesthe company now wants to use its expertise to help clone endangered species for conservation purposes.

Maya was cloned using DNA taken from an adult arctic wolf also named Maya. This arctic wolf died in captivity at Harbin Polarland, a wildlife park in northeast China.

An adult Maya born in Canada before being shipped to China in 2006, died of old age in early 2021.

Sinogene general manager Mi Jidong said Maya’s cloning was successfully completed “after two years of hard work”.

reported from Live ScienceSinogene researchers originally created 137 arctic wolf embryos by fusing skin cells from real Mayans with immature dog eggs, using a process known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).

Then, of these embryos, 85 were successfully transplanted into seven beagle surrogates. Of the transplanted embryos, only one fully developed during the pregnancy process.

The researchers used a replacement beagle because there were not enough female wolves in captivity for the experiment the scientists were doing. Fortunately, dogs share DNA similar enough to wolves for a successful pregnancy.

Additionally, little Maya is now living with her surrogate at Sinogene’s lab in Xuzhou, eastern China, but the cub will eventually be transferred to Harbin Polarland to live with other Arctic wolves.

But the park ranger said Maya had to be slowly introduced to the rest of the herd because of her isolated upbringing.

[Gambas:Video CNN]

(lom/lth)

[Gambas:Video CNN]