Dolly, the cloned sheep, was born on July 5th 1996. Though not the first clone Dolly was the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult cell. She was created at the Roslin Institute. The Roslin Institute is part of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Scientists Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell and their colleagues at the Institute cloned the sheep. They implanted the DNA of one sheep into the egg of another sheep from which the cell nucleus had been removed. The cloned embryo was then carried by a third sheep. When Dolly was born tests showed that she was an exact genetic replica of the sheep from which the cell was taken.
Dolly lived at the Institute and during her lifetime and she gave birth to a total of six lambs. At the age of four she began to show signs of arthritis. She developed a lung disease and was euthanized when she was just over six years old on February 14th 2003. Sheep normally have a lifespan of about twelve years. Her taxidermied body is on display in The National Museum of Scotland.
Since Dolly was cloned from a cell taken from the mammary gland of an adult ewe her name was associated with the singer and entertainer Dolly Parton. The scientist Ian Wilmut is reported to have said: ‘Dolly is derived from a mammary gland cell and we couldn’t think of a more impressive pair of glands than Dolly Parton’s’. The birth of Dolly in July 1996 was heralded as a major scientific breakthrough but her existence was not disclosed until seven months after her birth.
Dolly, the cloned sheep, whose existence was announced to the public in the year 1997 On This Day.
Dolly the Sheep