China-based scientists cloned a wild Arctic wolf and are now hoping to use the controversial genetic technology to help save other fragile species as the world approaches an extinction crisis. Scientists have named the female wolf clone Maya, and the Beijing-based Sinogene Biotechnology Company unveiled her on Monday, 100 days after her birth on June 10th.
Maya, a grey-brown puppy with a bushy tail, was described as being in good health by the company. During a news conference, it showed videos of Maya having fun and resting.
The arctic wolf was successfully cloned after two years of challenging effort. Mi Jidong, the company’s general manager, reportedly said during the news conference that it was the first case of its kind in the entire world. This is according to Chinese official media. The Arctic wolf, sometimes known as the white wolf or polar wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf that inhabits the High Arctic tundra in Canada’s northern Arctic Archipelago. According to the World Wildlife Fund, the Arctic fox’s conservation status—a criterion used to determine how close a species is to extinction—is considered low risk since its habitat is sufficiently distant to evade hunters. However, human development like roads and pipelines is encroaching on its area, and climate change is endangering its ability to produce food.
In a statement posted on the social media platform Weibo, Sinogene claimed that its Arctic wolf cloning project would start in 2020 in conjunction with the polar theme park Harbin Polarland. Maya was created by the company via a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer, which was previously utilized in 1996 to create Dolly the sheep, the first mammal clone ever. The initial Arctic wolf, Maya, who was brought to Harbin Polarland from Canada, had her skin harvested first to provide “donor cells.” A surrogate mother then gave birth to the cells after injecting them into a female dog’s egg. Following the successful generation of 85 of these embryos and their implantation into the uteri of seven beagles, one healthy Arctic wolf, the recently cloned Maya, was born, according to state media.
The company announced in a Weibo post that another cloned arctic wolf is expected to give birth soon. He Zhenming, director of the National Institute for Food and Drug Control of China’s Institute for Laboratory Animal Resources, believes that cloning technology provides a good starting point for the protection of threatened and endangered wild animals, which is a significant contribution to the preservation of biodiversity.
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He said that the successful cloning of Maya was a “landmark event, which is of significant value to the world’s wildlife protection and the restoration of endangered species,” according to the blog post. According to Sinogene, it will work with the Beijing Wildlife Park to conduct research on further cloning methods and applications as well as the preservation and propagation of rare and endangered species in China. The first Maya reportedly died in 2021 from old age, according to Global Times. The cloned Maya, who currently resides with her beagle surrogate mother, will soon be housed in the public Harbin Polarland.
