Ten months after a 16-year-old arctic wolf named Maya died in a zoo in northern China, a new "Maya" was born through cloning technology.
Using a beagle as a carrier for its pregnancy, biotechnology company Sinogene Biotechnology based in Beijing, China, announced in October 2022 that it had successfully cloned the world's first Arctic wolf of its kind.
"It is relatively easier to clone dogs and cats, we will continue to work in this area. In the next step, we may clone rare wild animals other than dogs or cats, which may require the use of heterogeneous cloning technologies, and it will be more difficult," explained Zhao Jianping, Deputy General Manager of Sinogene.
Despite being 'destined' to grow far from other Arctic wolves, Chinese scientists hail the success of this procedure as a significant achievement in conserving endangered wildlife and endangered species.
This isn't the first time Sinogene has successfully cloned animals. Quoted from CGTN, in 2019, Sinogene announced the 'creation' of the first cat they successfully cloned.
"A newborn wolf has the same genome as the original wolf, but the cloned wolf doesn't live with another wolf, but with a dog," Jianping added.
"In fact, for cloned dogs and cats, there is also the problem of early socialization. The earlier the socialization, the more useful it is for future development," he concluded.