July 5, 1996: World’s Most Famous (Cloned) Sheep Is Born
Today in 1996, Dolly the sheep was born from a surrogate mother at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Dolly was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell. Through a process called nuclear transfer, a mammary cell from an adult sheep was inserted into the nucleus of an unfertilized developing egg cell. Dolly lived for six and a half years, but was euthanized because of a progressive lung disease and severe arthritis. Her illnesses were ultimately found to be natural and unrelated to the fact that she was cloned. Dolly was named after buxom singer-songwriter Dolly Parton.