The black-footed ferret is an endangered species, with only approximately 370 alive in the wild
"Saving rare species from extinction requires extraordinary measures."
That's how the World Wildlife Fund begins its entry on the endangered black-footed ferret. The species, scientific name Mustela nigripes, was once thought to be entirely extinct, until it was rediscovered in Wyoming in 1981.
Since then, efforts have been made to try and pull the species back from the brink of extinction, from captive breeding and habitat protection to an approach once seen as science-fiction: cloning. And now, as futuristic as it seems, the latter approach seems more viable than it ever has.
As PopMech had previously reported, in December of 2020, the world was introduced to a black-footed ferret named Elizabeth Ann. The circumstances of Elizabeth Ann's birth were unique: as opposed to having been conceived as part of a typical captive breeding program, Elizabeth Ann was instead cloned from the cells of a donor ferret, Willa, who had died back in 1988.
Willa's DNA was also used to produce two more clones, named Noreen and Antonia. But, per the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, while Willa's DNA samples "contain three times the genetic diversity seen in the current population of black-footed ferrets," mere cloning wouldn't be enough if they were to try and introduce that genetic diversity into that limited population (the WWF currently estimates just 370 black-footed ferrets in the wild).
That's what makes the latest announcement by the USFWS so significant: for the first time, one of Willa's clones has given birth to new black-footed ferret kits. Specifically, the aforementioned Antonia, who produced three offspring after mating with Urchin, a 3-year-old male black-footed ferret at the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
While one of the offspring, referred to as kits, passed away shortly after birth, the two others, a male and a female, "are in good health and meeting developmental milestones under the care of NZCBI carnivore keepers," according to a press release from the USFWS.
"The successful breeding and subsequent birth of Antonia's kits marks a major milestone in endangered species conservation," noted Paul Marinari, senior curator at the at the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, in their press release. "The many partners in the Black-footed Ferret Recovery Program continue their innovative and inspirational efforts to save this species and be a model for other conservation programs across the globe."