# Cloned goats and their potential offspring

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-goats-and-their-potential-offspring/186017>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 3, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-goats-and-their-potential-offspring/186017 "2003-07-03T13:36:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Boo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@Boo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-goats-and-their-potential-offspring/186017/1 "2003-07-03T13:36:14Z")

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Let’s say two female goats are cloned from the same female goat. Two male goats are cloaned from the same male goat. Both sets mate and each female has one baby. Would the two baby goats be the same genetically?

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**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-goats-and-their-potential-offspring/186017/2 "2003-07-03T13:48:02Z")

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No. Each individual cell carries two sets of chromosomes. This means they have two versions of each chromosome, but when sexual reproduction occurs only one copy is passed on by each parent to each offspring.

For example, if you consider a chromosome C, which comes in different versions C1, C2, C3, C4 the male goats might have one C1 and one C2. The females might have one C3 and one C4. The offspring might have C1 + C3 or C1 + C4 or C2 + C3 or C2 + C4; which occurs would be purely random, depending on the specific egg and sperm which meet (each egg and sperm is haploid, having only one chromosome C1, C2, C3 or C4).

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**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-goats-and-their-potential-offspring/186017/3 "2003-07-03T16:18:52Z")

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They would be as similar, genetically, as regular siblings.

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-goats-and-their-potential-offspring/186017/4 "2003-07-03T20:39:14Z")

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Note that clones are akin to identical twins. If identical twin women married identical twin men and had children, the “cousins” would be full siblings, in terms of DNA sharing. Since one couple could have a boy and another a girl, obviously they won’t be identical children themselves.