South Korea Produces First Wolf Clones

A South Korean research team headed by veterinary professor Lee Byeong-cheon of Seoul National University (SNU) has produced the first-ever wolf clones.

In a press conference on March 26 at SNU, Professor Lee said, “The grey wolf is listed as endangered. Our team succeeded in cloning two female gray wolves seventeen months ago and the two are alive and well.”

The paper on the wolf cloning appears in March issue of Cloning and Stemcells, a high-ranking journal on cloning. Prof. Hwang Woo-suk is one of coauthors of the paper. Ian Wilmut is the chief editor of the journal.

One clone is named Snuwolf and was born on October 18, 2005. The other is named Snuwolffy and was born on October 26, 2005. Their names are the combination of “SNU (Seoul National University)” and “wolf.”

Lee and his team already succeeded in dog cloning (their names are Snuppy, Bona, Peace, and Hope). And the successful production of cloned wolves is credited for helping the preservation of endangered or threatened species.

Though the fraud and embezzlement scandal over Hwang Woo-suk undermined the scientific credibility of South Korea, this research demonstrates that South Korea still excels in cloning.

Scientists took a somatic cell from the ear and placed it into an empty egg cell of dog. Then the fertilized egg was implanted into the womb of a surrogate mother, a dog.

Lee said, “The reproduction of endangered or threatened species has been very hard through artificial methods including in vitro fertilization. By using the somatic cell transfer method, a small amount of skin cells can produce clones.”

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