In this photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is Elizabeth Ann, the first cloned black-footed ferret and first-ever cloned U.S. endangered species, at 50-days old on Jan. 29, 2021. Scientists have cloned the first U.S. endangered species, a black-footed ferret duplicated from the genes of an animal that died over 30 years ago. They hope the slinky predator named Elizabeth Ann and her descendants will improve the genetic diversity of a species once thought extinct but bred in captivity and reintroduced successfully to the wild. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP)
ByMEAD GRUVERCHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Scientists have cloned the first U.S. endangered species, a black-footed ferret duplicated from the genes of an animal that died over 30 years ago.The slinky predator named Elizabeth Ann, born Dec. 10 and announced Thursday, is cute as a button. But watch out — unlike the domestic ferret foster mom who carried her into the world, she's wild at heart."You might have been handling a black-footed ferret kit and then they try to take your finger off the next day," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service black-footed ferret recovery coordinator Pete Gober said Thursday. “She's holding her own.”Elizabeth Ann was born and is being raised at a Fish and Wildlife Service black-footed ferret breeding facility in Fort Collins, Colorado. She's
