First ferret babies born from a clone bring new hope for their species

As It Happens6:30First ferret babies born from a clone bring new hope for their species

Two feisty ferret babies in Virginia are being hailed as a symbol of hope for the future of their species.

Scientists say Sibert and Red Cloud, black-footed ferret siblings at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, are the first members of an endangered species born to a cloned animal.

"It's almost unimaginable what this means," ecologist Ben Novak, one of the researchers behind the groundbreaking effort, told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal.

Their birth is being celebrated as a groundbreaking achievement in conservation science that opens up new possibilities for saving not only black-footed ferrets, but other endangered, or even extinct, species.

Still, conservationists caution this is just one step in what must be a multi-pronged approach that addresses why these animals are endangered in the first place — disease, and the destruction of their habitat and food source.

Descendents of 7 founder ferrets

Black-footed ferrets flourished on the prairies of what is now North America until European settlers arrived. But by the 1980s, only a handful remained, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center.

Scientists back then captured the surviving ferrets and began breeding them in captivity. Today, thanks to those efforts, there are now an estimated 250 in the wild, and 300 in captivity. 

But today's black-footed ferrets are all descended from just seven individuals, known as founders. Their lack of genetic diversity makes breeding them a challenge.

That's where cloning comes in. One of the ferrets captured in the '80s, Willia, died without ever having given birth. But scientists had the foresight to preserve her genetic material.

"Fast forward a few decades and now we have this opportunity using biotechnology to take those cells out of the freezer and make a new individual genetic twin of that original animal," Novak said.

Novak is the lead scientist at Revive & Restore, an organization that applies biotechnologies to wildlife conservation, with the goal of restoring species both endangered and extinct.

Willa, he says, has been thrice cloned. First came Elizabeth-Ann, the first ever clone of a North American endangered species in 2020, followed by her twin sisters, Noreen and Antonia, three years later.

Elizabeth-Ann suffered health problems that prevented her from breeding, while Noreen has thus far rejected every suitor brought before her. 

"But Antonia?" he said. "A completely different story."

Anotonia's caretakers selected a three-year-old male ferret named Urchin as her mate because of his track record as a both a gentle mate and a successful father.

Antonia approved.

"She sniffed him on the nose and she was immediately excited," Novak said. "She ran down her burrow and he ran down after her, and the next three days were all baby-making."

Sibert and Red Cloud were born on June 18, and so far, appear healthy and well.

Paul Marinari, senior curator at the National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, called it "a major milestone in endangered species conservation."

Just 1 piece of the puzzle 

Wildlife ecologist David Jachowski agrees. He spent a decade of his career as a federal biologist working on black-footed ferret recovery. When he first learned about Antonia's kits, he says he immediately shared the news with his lab-mates at Clemson University in South Carolina.

"I think I told them, like, wow, conservation cloning just got real," Jachowski told CBC. "It's a wonderful example of ingenuity and the hard work those folks are doing."

Nevertheless, he says it doesn't address the root cause of ferrets' decline — the destruction of their habitat and prey. Both of those things, he says, are inextricably entwined with another at-risk animal, the prairie dog.

Prairie dogs make up 90 per cent of the black-footed ferret's prey, he said, and they dig the networks of burrows where ferrets keep their dens.

But prairie dogs are estimated to be at just two per cent of their historic population — most of them were killed by humans because their burrowing disrupts agriculture, industry and constriction. What's more, Jachowski says, they're highly susceptible to a flea-borne bacterial disease called sylvatic plague, which gets passed onto the ferrets who hunt them.

"If we don't have prairie dogs, we can't have ferrets. And that's the crux of the issue for that species right now," Jachowski said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a partner in the cloning project, says that's just one piece of the conservation puzzle.

"The Service continues to focus on habitat conservation, disease management, and the reintroduction of ferrets into the wild," it said in a press release. "Ongoing efforts include the development of disease resistance and habitat restoration across the Great Plains in collaboration with states, tribes, landowners, and other conservation partners."

Cute? Yes. Nice? Not so much

Sibert and Red Cloud, meanwhile, seem to be doing well. 

Novak described them as "adorable" but "wild and quite fierce" compared to their domesticated ferret cousins. One of them, he said, recently sliced through a veterinarian's thumb with its canines.

"They've got to handle them very carefully," he said. "They're little predators."

The siblings are already weaned from their mother, and by spring, will be old enough to get to work propagating their species. 

"Antonia will not only produce another litter of babies, but her daughter, Sibert, will also become a mom and continue this legacy," Novak said. "Red Cloud, hopefully, he will become a super stud like his dad."