Meet Noreen and Antonia, the latest cloned black-footed ferrets

By Michael Doyle | 04/17/2024 04:13 PM EDT

The Fish and Wildlife Service hopes to eventually breed the endangered ferrets.

A cloned black-footed ferret named Antonia.

Antonia, a cloned black-footed ferret, lives at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute in Virginia. Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

Elizabeth Ann, the groundbreaking black-footed ferret, now has some cloned company.

Nearly 3½ years after Elizabeth Ann’s birth in December 2020 as the first cloned animal of her species, the Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday belatedly announced the births of two more black-footed ferret clones.

Their names are Noreen and Antonia, they are approaching their first birthdays and they are cute beyond words.

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They are also biomedical marvels, more of which may be on the way.

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