Towards Practical Conservation Cloning: Understanding the Dichotomy Between the Histories of Commercial and...

Over 40 years ago, scientists imagined ways cloning could aid conservation of threatened taxa. The cloning of Dolly the sheep from adult somatic cells in 1996 was the breakthrough that finally enabled the conservation potential of the technology. Until the 2020s, conservation cloning research efforts yielded no management applications, leading many to believe cloning is not yet an effective conservation tool. In strong contrast, domestic taxa are cloned routinely for scientific and commercial purposes. In this review, we sought to understand the reasons for these divergent trends. We scoured peer-reviewed and gray literature and sent direct inquiries to scientists to analyze a more comprehensive history of the field than was analyzed in previous reviews. While most previous reviewers concluded that a lack of reproductive knowledge of wildlife species has hindered advances for wider conservation applications, we found that resource limitations (e.g., numbers of surrogates, sustainable funding) and widely held misconceptions about cloning are significant contributors to the stagnation of the field. Recent successes in cloning programs for the endangered black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) and Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii), the world's first true applied-conservation cloning efforts, are demonstrating that cloning can be used for significant conservation impact in the present. When viewed alongside the long history of cloning achievements, these programs emphasize the value of investing in the science and resources needed to meaningfully integrate cloning into conservation management, especially for species with limited genetic diversity that rely on the maintenance of small populations for many generations while conservationists work to restore habitat and mitigate threats in the wild.