Remembering Dolly the Sheep

By: Kadence Buchanan
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:26:57
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The world's first cloned mammal, "Dolly the Sheep," introduced herself to mankind10 years ago to the day last June 17. Her birth was a great milestone in the history of science and a watershed event in the evolution of the science of cloning. For the first time, there was living, empirical evidence to substantiate the long-held belief that it is possible to clone animals and, potentially, human beings.

Dolly was cloned at the Roslin Institute in Scotland where she stayed until her death when after six years. Largely because of Dolly's creation, the term "somatic cell nuclear transfer," the technique used to create Dolly, became a household name, at least among those who were interested in science.

There was some controversy as well regarding Dolly's birth, with many people claiming credit for the achievement. Initial credit went to Ian Wilmut since he was the first to write about Dolly, but his role in the project was disputed from the outset. In March 2006, Wilmut himself admitted he was not the creator of Dolly and gave most of the credit to Keith Campbell.

Dolly lived for only six years (she died on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2003), but her short-lived life was enough to open the doors to a vast world of endless possibilities and she inspired many others to venture into the field. Nine years after Dolly's birth, Snuppy the dog, the world's second cloned mammal, was born.

Like her birth, Dolly's death was also tainted by controversy as there was some speculation that Dolly may have suffered from premature aging because of shortened "telomeres" in her cells that were passed on from her parent, who was six years old when the genetic material was taken from her. Some scientists said Dolly may have been genetically six years old at birth, but this is unsupported scientifically. Her cause of death was officially listed as progressive lung disease. A later autopsy revealed that Dolly died from "Ovine Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma," which is a common disease among sheep.

After her death, Ian Helmut once again made headlines when he announced in a new book that he had perfected new human cloning techniques that could be of great benefit to mankind.

Kadence Buchanan writes articles on many topics including Science, Computers, and Alternative Health.

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