Twice a record holder
The smallest dog in the world was cloned 49 times
A chihuahua named Miracle Milly underwent the cloning procedure for the 49th time. Now she has two records: this is the smallest and most frequently cloned dog in the world, writes Academy of World Records.
When Millie was born, she was so tiny that she could fit in a teaspoon. No one expected that she would survive, but the hostess managed to save her pet.
Now Millie is six years old, her height is about 10 cm, weight is about 0.5 kilograms.
Millie's mistress is Vanesa Semler – lives in Kissimmee, USA and is engaged in chihuahua breeding.
Specialists of the Sooam Biotech research foundation have proposed cloning a dog to find out the reason for its tiny size. The first litter of Millie clones was born in August 2017, 12 puppies were born. They were named Molly, Malli, Melli, Molly again, Mumu, Mila, Mary, Mimi, Moni, Mini, Mela and Mulan. All of them now live at home with the hostess. Most of them are very similar to Millie, but some have differences in habits and character.
"Initially, they wanted to make ten clones: nine for researchers and one for us,– Millie's hostess told the Daily Mail. "But the scientists decided to clone her again."
As a result, the total number of clones reached 49. Miracle Millie holds the Guinness World Record as the smallest dog in the world. Now she has been certified by the Academy of World Records as the dog with the most clones.
The research of clones will be carried out by the staff of the Institute of Genomics in Beijing. They will characterize the genetic and epigenetic factors of the original Millie and her copies. After that, they hope to analyze the data for publication in a scientific journal.
Despite her tiny size, Millie now has no health problems. The owners believe that Millie does not know that she is a dog. She never barks, only cries when she wants something. She eats only fresh chicken and red fish, refusing everything else.
The procedure was performed at the Sooam laboratory in South Korea. This organization has been operating since 2006, its main service is the cloning of pets. Sooam specialists operate using the same technology that once cloned Dolly the sheep - core transfer. During the procedure, the cell nucleus is transferred to the cytoplasm of the egg. The cell nucleus is taken from the "original" animal, and the cytoplasm is taken from the donor animal. Then the cell is stimulated to divide by electricity, and then placed in the womb of a surrogate mother.
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