# Cloned Sheep Has Died: Now What? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 16, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394 "2003-02-16T05:23:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/1 "2003-02-16T05:23:00Z")
What has science learned from the first cloning? It was said the sheep aged faster than the natural-born sheep. And, the cloned sheep suffered from chronic breathing problems. So, what have the scientists learned from this? Will they work to improve the quality of life for their next subject, or simply go on to the next cloning just for all the thrill and glory? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Marduk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Marduk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marduk)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/2 "2003-02-16T05:32:58Z")
Well, which scientists are you refering to? Are you wanting to know what the scientists who focus on cloning are going to do? Or all the scientists? I’ll just list a few things that are probably going to happen or have happened to dolly. Medical scientists will looks to see WHICH genes or what the reason for increased aging were. They will study this and see if there is any way to reverse this and double the age of an organism. Those specifically interested in cloning will study this to try and make a more “nature correct” version. And some will just do it for the glory. Funny how a lot of explorers helped to kill off entire civilizations in the Americas just for the glory and the general public doesn’t attack them… If the “mistake” is found. Some lab animals will be engineered to age faster so that certain experiments can be done in less time. Well, thats 3 just off the top of my head. Anyone else know what they can do with the non-llamma dolly’s corpse? Besides a scientific luncheon. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/3 "2003-02-16T05:40:10Z")
Marduk, I am just asking this additional question out of curiousity: Why a sheep? Why wasn’t a mouse, or other rodent, the first animal to be cloned? Was a sheep perhaps easier to clone as oppsoed to many other animal candidates for some reason? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Marduk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Marduk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marduk)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/4 "2003-02-16T05:43:23Z")
I believe it was because the guys doing the cloning could obtain and work with a sheep more easily. Being that I hear you can’t go 5 feet without stepping on a sheep in Scotland. ---
**Author:** ![critter42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/5 "2003-02-16T14:35:59Z")
What now? Looks like someone’s having [mutton](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlamb.html) this weekend 🙂 critter42 ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/6 "2003-02-16T15:16:39Z")
What now? She’s going to be stuffed and put in the museum of Scotland (true). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/7 "2003-02-16T18:05:03Z")
One report I heard said that sheep that live all their lives insdoors are more prone to the kind of lung infections that took Dolly down. So the fact that she lived only half a normal life is not necessarily solely from her being cloned. More research will have to be done. But remember that there are many other cloned sheep in the world to study. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/8 "2003-02-16T20:21:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jinx \* > \*\*Marduk, I am just asking this additional question out of curiousity: Why a sheep? Why wasn’t a mouse, or other rodent, the first animal to be cloned? Was a sheep perhaps easier to clone as oppsoed to many other animal candidates for some reason? - Jinx \*\* Dolly was _not_ the first [animal](http://www.thebakersfieldchannel.com/news/1857575/detail.html) to be cloned. She was _not_ the first mammal to be cloned. She was _not_ the first animal to be cloned from an adult cell. She _was_ the first _mammal_ to be cloned from an _adult_ cell. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/9 "2003-02-16T20:57:41Z")
Dolly was cloned from a mammary cells. Before, Dolly, it was believed that even though the genetic code was contained in all cells, a cell that had already specialized could not be used to create a clone. Dolly completely changed this theory and scientists are still trying to figure out why. > [@](#): > > _from [Scientific American\*](http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0009B07D-BD40-1C59-B882809EC588ED9F) > \*\* Dolly, unlike any other mammal that has ever lived, is an identical copy of another adult and has no father. She is a clone, the creation of a group of veterinary researchers. That work, performed by Ian Wilmut and his colleagues at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, has provided an important new research tool and has shattered a belief widespread among biologists that cells from adult mammals cannot be persuaded to regenerate a whole animal._\* It is not known if Dolly’s death was connected to her being a clone or not. What about other scientists is a question that can only be answered after the fact. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/10 "2003-02-16T23:06:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kniz \* > It is not known if Dolly’s death was connected to her being a clone or not. [New Scientist](http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993393) thinks it may have to do with a clone’s shortened telomeres. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/11 "2003-02-16T23:16:07Z")
Did Dolly age faster and die of old age, or did she die of the breathing problem? ---
**Author:** ![DrLiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DrLiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrLiver)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/12 "2003-03-18T07:49:15Z")
Doesn’t this have something to do with telomeres? Something like since Dolly was cloned from an adult cell and that since the telomeres in that cell were “older”, even though she was a baby, she would still have “old sheep” problems? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/13 "2003-03-18T12:50:47Z")
What ever happened to Dolly the sheep? Dolly was a clone, right? What ever happened to Dolly the sheep? ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/14 "2003-03-18T14:09:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by levdrakon \* > \*\*[New Scientist](http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993393) thinks it may have to do with a clone’s shortened telomeres. \*\* New Scientist also believed in the existence of the “blitzkrieg server computer virus”, which has the power to destroy (as in PHYSICALLY destroy) a computer that is not even turned on–[http://vmyths.com/rant.cfm?id=186&page=4](http://vmyths.com/rant.cfm?id=186&page=4). ---
**Author:** ![Philosophocles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Philosophocles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philosophocles)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/15 "2003-03-18T16:41:24Z")
The sheep Dolly was cloned from died at the age of three. Dolly died at the age of six, for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![simply\_cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@simply\_cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simply_cats)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/16 "2003-03-18T17:03:52Z")
Just an observation: sheep truly are stupid. Having been around other livestock all my life (horses, pigs, cattle), I have recently gotten involved with sheep. To my complete disbelief, they will just die. They don’t have any will to live. It is truly bizarre what some of these animals are like. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloned-sheep-has-died-now-what/155394/17 "2003-03-18T18:07:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mangeorge \* > \*\*Did Dolly age faster and die of old age, or did she die of the breathing problem? \*\* I believe Dolly was put down, so she technically died of lethal injection.