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Animal cloning is no longer just a science, but also a business. People pay tens of thousands of dollars to copy dead pets. We understand how it is done and what problems there are
The first animal cloning experiments were carried out in the middle of the 1962th century. In 1996, British biologist John Gurdon took cell nuclei from the intestines of tadpoles and obtained a frog clone. Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, was born in XNUMX.
In 2004, the first commercial cloning of a cat took place. The owner of the animal paid $50 for it. In 000, those who wish can order a clone of a dog, cat or horse. Here’s how much it costs:
- cat cloning — $35 (approximately ₽000 million);
- dog cloning — $50 (approximately ₽000 million);
- horse cloning — $85 (approximately ₽000 million).
The clone will be similar to the previous animal and will have the same genes. The ViaGen clinic, which deals with commercial cloning, claims that a new animal is like a twin of an old one.
Where and how are pets cloned
In 2022, only four companies in the world are commercially cloning animals. These are ViaGen in the USA, Sinogene in China, Sooam Biotech in South Korea, Geminin Genetics in the UK.
To create a clone, somatic cells are used – these are cells that do not participate in sexual reproduction. A living cell is taken from the skin of a donor animal and a nucleus containing DNA is extracted from it. The scientists then take an egg from another animal and remove all of the genetic material from there. A new nucleus is implanted into a “clean” egg. Next, the cell is revived with chemicals or electric current, and it begins to develop into an embryo.
When the embryo is ready, the egg is transferred into the uterus of the animal surrogate mother. This process is similar to in vitro fertilization. An adult female gives birth to a cub with the same genes as the donor animal.
In this way, you can create a clone of a freshly deceased animal. If the animal dies, the owner must wrap the body in a wet cloth and place it in the refrigerator. The optimal temperature for preserving somatic cells is 4℃. It is forbidden to freeze the corpse, it will kill the cells.
In the ViaGen laboratory, owners are advised to prepare four tissue samples – pieces of skin and ears measuring 2×2 cm. Each of them must be placed in a test tube with a sterile solution, cooled and sent to the clinic – this has five days from the moment of death of the animal. The companies also offer to save the biomaterial of a living pet for the future, such a service costs $1 (approximately ₽600).
Is the clone different from the “original” animal
The clone will not be an exact copy of the previous pet. It will be of the same gender, but may be slightly different in appearance. For example, a cloned animal may have a different color or eye color.
This feature was identified after the first successful cloning of a cat, which occurred in 2001. The new kitten differed from the original color. Scientists attribute this to the fact that coat color is controlled not only by genes, but also by the development of the fetus inside the surrogate mother. This issue is still unresolved.
The cloned animal differs from the original in character and behavior. These factors also depend on the external environment, and not on the set of genes.
Does the clone require special care
Commercial cloning clinics claim that test-tube animals do not require special care. According to them, clones live normal lives and can even have offspring.
According to a study by scientists from the Veterinary University of Vienna, successfully cloned animals live as long as their original counterparts. But before a viable clone appears, many animals may die.
When scientists first cloned a dog, they needed 1 embryos and 095 surrogates. Three pregnancies came out of this, and only one puppy survived.
Clones often die during gestation or in the first months of life. This happens when scientists make mistakes during DNA transfer. If a clone reaches sexual maturity, it is more likely to have normal health and normal lifespan.
It is not known exactly whether the quality of life of cloned animals differs from normal ones. Scientists almost do not study aging clones.
Who clones pets and why
Show business stars
Barbra Streisand cloned her dog Samantha, who died in 2017. The dog was a rare breed – Coton de Tulear with curly hair. Streisand was unable to find a similar animal and turned to the ViaGen clinic.
As a result of cloning, four puppies were born, two of them survived. In an interview with The New York Times, Streisand says that every dog has its own unique personality. In the lab, you can clone the appearance, but you can’t clone the soul of an animal.
“I was so devastated by the loss of my dear Samantha after 14 years of marriage that I just wanted to somehow keep her to myself. It was easier to let go of Sammy if I knew that I could keep some part of her life, something that came from her DNA, ”explains Barbra Streisand.
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This is not the first case of animal cloning of show business stars. In 2016, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg and her husband Barry Diller received two clones of their Jack Russell dog. They paid $100 for this service.
Those who make money from pets
Petfluencers are bloggers who post photos and videos of their pets on Instagram. In this environment, animal cloning has gained particular popularity.
Udvar-Hazy from California maintains an account @wander_with_willow, in which she posted photos of her wolfdog named Willow. In 2018, the dog was hit by a car, Udvar-Hazy cloned her and continued to run Instagram.
“I had a special bond with Willow. I photographed her daily. She was my muse. The most important thing for me was to preserve her legacy and continue the bloodline, ”says Udvar-Hazy in an interview with Input magazine.
Another pet fluencer, Kelly Anderson from Texas, maintains an account @adogandacat. She also cloned her cat Chai. It took ViaGen Labs four years to create the clone. At the same time, they asked Kelly not to tell how many surrogate cat mothers were needed for this.
“I built an audience from scratch… When Chai died, everything started to fall apart… I lost a lot of followers and engagement. Now I’m slowly starting to rebuild it with Belle [clone Chai],” Kelly says in an interview with Input magazine.
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Cynologist Ho Zhun from China made a clone of a dog named Sok. His animal is featured in films and receives a fee of $3 per day (approximately ₽000).
When Sok was 8 years old, her copy, Little Sok, was born. Now the clone plays the role of an understudy – the original animal is already aged and gets tired faster. A few days of filming allows Huo Jun to recoup the cost of cloning.
Those who can pay for it
Anyone who is willing to pay money for it can clone an animal. A resident of China Huang Yu could not come to terms with the loss of a cat named Garlik. The pet died of an infection at the age of two, and Huang decided to clone the animal. This task was undertaken by Sinogene. After 7 months they got a clone of the cat. It differed from the original in color, but the owner accepted it anyway.
Those who cannot afford to clone a pet at the moment freeze the cells for the future. For example, a ViaGen customer saved the somatic cells of three of his cats at once.
Why Pet Cloning Is Criticized
High embryonic and calf mortality
Only 4% of cloning attempts lead to successful births. Fetuses often die – half of pregnancies are terminated in the first trimester. 80% of the remaining embryos die in the second trimester. Scientists believe that such a low percentage of successful pregnancies is associated with malfunctioning genes and abnormalities of the placenta.
Many baby cloned animals die in the first months of life. Scientists attribute this to the lack of viability of clones after birth – they are found to have iron deficiency, stomach problems and breathing problems.
Unethical use of animals
Animal advocates consider the cloning process unethical in relation to female animals who act as surrogate mothers. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is concerned that it takes hundreds of eggs to reproduce one clone. At the same time, they can be planted with the same laboratory animals several times.
Scientists believe that more research is needed for the cloning process to be successful. To do this, it is necessary to eliminate errors in the programming of the donor core.