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Dolly (sheep)

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Dolly was a very famous Finn-Dorset sheep. She was born on 5 July 1996. Dolly was the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell. A somatic cell is just a regular cell from a body part.

Dolly face closeup
Dolly face closeup

This discovery was huge for science. It showed that a mature cell could create a whole new individual. People all over the world wanted to learn about her. She became a symbol for new ways of studying life.

Scientists used a method called somatic cell nuclear transfer to make Dolly.

Dolly clone
Dolly clone

First, they took a nucleus from a cell in a mammary gland. The nucleus is the part of the cell that holds instructions. Next, they put that nucleus into an egg cell. This egg cell had its own nucleus removed first. Then, they used an electric shock to help the cell start dividing. Finally, the embryo was placed inside a surrogate mother to grow.

Many people helped make Dolly possible at the Roslin Institute in Scotland.

Dolly clone
Dolly clone

The team included Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell. They worked with the University of Edinburgh and a company called PPL Therapeutics. This work was built on ideas from John Gurdon. In 1958, he cloned African clawed frogs using a similar way. Dolly's birth was announced to the public on 22 February 1997. It was a major event in the history of science.

Dolly lived her whole life at the Roslin Institute in Midlothian.

Dolly face closeup
Dolly face closeup

She was a busy mother and had six lambs. Her first lamb was named Bonnie, born in April 1998. She also had twins named Sally and Rosie. Later, she had triplets named Lucy, Darcy, and Cotton in 2000. Dolly died on 14 February 2003 at the age of six. She had arthritis and a lung disease called ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma. Scientists did not think her cloning caused these health problems.

Dolly's work helped scientists learn about stem cells.

Dolly face closeup
Dolly face closeup

This led to the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells. These are special cells that can grow into any part of a body. Since Dolly, many other animals have been cloned. This includes pigs, deer, horses, and even monkeys. Some scientists even used these tools to try and clone an extinct mountain goat. Today, you can see Dolly's body at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

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File:Dolly clone.svg
Dolly clone.svg
File:Dolly face closeup.jpg
Dolly face closeup.jpg
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