First ferret babies born from a clone bring new hope for their species

Two feisty ferret babies in Virginia are being hailed as a symbol of hope for the future of their species.

Scientists say Sibert and Red Cloud, black-footed ferret siblings at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, are the first members of an endangered species born to a cloned animal.

"It's almost unimaginable what this means," ecologist Ben Novak, one of the researchers behind the groundbreaking effort, told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal.

Their birth is being celebrated as a groundbreaking achievement in conservation science that opens up new possibilities for saving not only black-footed ferrets, but other endangered, or even extinct, species.

Still, conservationists caution this is just one step in what must be a multi-pronged approach that addresses why these animals are endangered in the first place — disease, and the destruction of their habitat and food source.

Black-footed ferrets flourished on the prairies of what is now North America until European settlers arrived. But by the 1980s, only a handful remained, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center.

Scientists back then captured the surviving ferrets and began breeding them in captivity. Today, thanks to those efforts, there are now an estimated 250 in the wild, and 300 in captivity. 

But today's black-footed ferrets are all descended from just seven individuals, known as founders. Their lack of genetic diversity makes breeding them a challenge.

That's where cloning comes in. One of the ferrets captured in the '80s, Willia, died without ever having given birth. But scientists had the foresight to preserve her genetic material.

"Fast forward a few decades and now we have this opportunity using biotechnology to take those cells out of the freezer and make a new individual genetic twin of that original animal," Novak said.

Novak is the lead scientist at Revive & Restore, an organization that applies biotechnologies to wildlife conservation, with the goal of restoring species both endangered and extinct.

Willa, he says, has been thrice cloned. First came Elizabeth-Ann, the first ever clone of a North American endangered species in 2020, followed by her twin sisters, Noreen and Antonia, three years later.

Elizabeth-Ann suffered health problems that prevented her from breeding, while Noreen has thus far rejected every suitor brought before her. 

"But Antonia?" he said. "A completely different story."