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Biotech Science

South Korean Scientists Clone Dog 404

Posted by timothy from the this-is-one-clone-with-a-seoul dept.
Ebon Praetor writes "According to the BBC and Reuters, South Korean scientists have created the world's first cloned dog, an Afghan hound. The research purpose of the research is ostensibly to produce research animals and not for commercial purposes. Dogs are especially difficult to clone, but the scientists were able to extract DNA from a skin cell, inject it into an egg, and implant the egg into a surrogate mother."
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South Korean Scientists Clone Dog More

South Korean Scientists Clone Dog

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  • Boring... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @04:16PM (#13234032)
    Dammit where is the half dog half alligator? This whole cloning regular animals thing is getting boring.

    • Re:Boring... (Score:2, Funny)

      by crownrai ( 713377 )
      Question is would you really want that animal to come when you call it?

    • Re:Boring... (Score:5, Funny)

      by lucabrasi999 ( 585141 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @04:33PM (#13234312) Journal
      where is the half dog half alligator?

      More importantly, where is the "Mog"? A mog is his own best friend.

    • Dammit where is the half dog half alligator? This whole cloning regular animals thing is getting boring.

      Any biology student will tell you that dogs and alligators cannot be combined through cloning, even if we had the technological means to interbreed between like species. For starters, alligators are reptiles, and according to the evolutionary chart of animals they are a step below mammals with respect to their internal circulatory and respiratory systems. Reptiles have 3 1/2 chambered hearts,

  • Off-color joke: (Score:3, Funny)

    by BigZaphod ( 12942 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @04:16PM (#13234044) Homepage
    What, are they running out of their favorite food over there? *ba-dum-bump*
  • ...at least they picked the appropriate month to release this...

  • And, in sports news, (Score:5, Funny)

    by conJunk ( 779958 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @04:18PM (#13234065)
    The organizers of the Iditerod prepare for scandal worse than major league baseball and and olympic running, combined!

  • er (Score:3, Funny)

    by AnonymousNinja ( 828785 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @04:18PM (#13234066)
    He can be his own best friend
  • A Baskerville?
  • dogs clone you!

  • Difficult to clone (Score:3, Interesting)

    by truckaxle ( 883149 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @04:20PM (#13234102) Homepage
    Why are cloning dogs "notoriously difficult"? Is it because of the wide range of variability within the species?
  • I wasn't worried until I saw that the press release was put out by the Umbrella Corporation from someplace called Raccoon City.

  • Slight differences in the copy (Score:5, Funny)

    by StefanJ ( 88986 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @04:20PM (#13234111) Homepage Journal
    "a frisky, healthy, normal, rambunctious puppy."

    If you ignore the glowing red eyes, caustic drool, and an unearthly howl that makes babies cry and causes normal dogs who hear it to lose bowel control, chew through their leads, and leap in front of FedEx trucks.

  • Imagine... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Black Perl ( 12686 )
    ...a Wolf cluster of these!
  • I ran a poll in the office, for coworkers to guess which country has cloned the dog. Given that I work at a venture capital firm with the "Find a need, fill the need" mentality, everybody answered correctly.

    Now I'm just waiting what the genetically modified food opponents would do...

    • Seriously,

      Whoever runs the top-3 poultry company in the U.S. will likely pay top-dollar to have their most profitable birds cloned.

      That is if they haven't done so already.

      So, when do I get my finders fee?
  • 1) Get egg 2) Inject DNA 3) Implant 4) Incubate for awhile 5) Start morality debate... again and again.

  • Allow me to have a Bob Barker moment here... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Rude Turnip ( 49495 ) <valuation AT gmail DOT com> on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @04:25PM (#13234190)
    I hold nothing but extreme vitriol towards people that breed dogs when there are so many cats and dogs that are out on the streets and in shelters needing good homes. Same goes towards any pet store that sells cats and dogs.

    People, please spay or neuter your pets and don't allow your ego to perpetuate the suffering of homeless cats and dogs.

    • I hold nothing but extreme vitriol towards people that breed dogs

      I hold nothing but comtempt for people that don't realize that some of us aren't don't want to experiment to find a housepet that won't freak out and mame our children. Yeah, that cur has pretty eyes, but do you know that he wasn't thrown out for biting kids?

      I'm not much for "think of the children!", but given that pets are completely optional, it makes sense to pick one that is statistically most likely to fit in with your lifestyle. AK

      • "find a housepet that won't freak out and mame our children. "

        This is a good point but also there are the health implications to consider, unless a animal (dog/cat in this instance) is bred correctly, it can lead to genetic defects and other health problems.

        AKC breeds have to meet a certain standard to get papaers and before they are sold (depnding on the breed) they have to be medically screened for certian genetic traits... for example, our family bought a Golden labrador, they have a genetic disposition
        • That's very true. We had to get surgery for our Maltese's chronic knee displacement, which fortunately seems to have fixed the problem.

          I think your point amplifies mine, though. When you buy from a breeder, you can at least theoretically check their reputation before buying. It's rare to know anything at all, though, about the background of a shelter animal. Maybe that sweet, beautiful hound using sad-dog eyes at you through the cage needs $3,000 in treatment to prevent a slow, painful death.

          I have

        • i think your logic is a tad flawed- the problem is ANY form of breeding for money, whether by a "reputable" breeder or a disreputable one. there are plenty of dogs in the world without anyone intentionally breeding more of them. why not just adopt a dog? sure, it may have hip problems, but you know what? it's going to have those problems whether you adopt it or not. unless, of course, it just gets euthanised because nobody's willing to adopt it. would you rather that dog "suffer in pain" without anyone to l
          • My wife and I adopted an adult pound dog two days before she was scheduled for euthanasia.

            Terri (the dog) is shaggy, lovable, and protects us from Al Queda terrorists, who often try to come into our yard disguised as cats.

            People ask me what breed she is. I say, "She's an American dog."

            And so she is, complete with waggly tail and a friendly disposition.

            Not only that, Terri is computer-literate [roblimo.com]!

            I don't think Terri is clonable. She is a unique individual.

            Take any pound dog with a reasonable disposition, give t
        • So getting mad at people who buy dogs from breeders is just being ill-informed...

          Selective breeding of dogs is the cause of these genetic defects, not the solution to them!

          Of course the damage has already been done now - the more ludicrous the shape of your dog, the finer the "pedigree". Buy a mongrel - the genetic diversity should reduce the likelihood of some of these problems.
    • becasue it also conviently promote inbreeding, and removes animals that have qualities people want to adopt.

      Also, it is better to not have existed then to be an eye sore to humans.

      Why do you think homeless cats 'suffer'? is it becasue they aren't all neat and bathed so they can fit into your little mental box of how they should live?

      Homeless cats control homeless rats.

    • There are those breeders who should be supported (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Shivetya ( 243324 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @05:26PM (#13234930) Homepage Journal
      Do not attempt to put guilt upon the good breeders out there. It is not their fault for the huge numbers of homeless animals and they should not have their legitimate activities curtailed.

      The good breeders promote their breeds by ensuring only the good representatives of the breed are bred. They usually sell their dogs in two classes, show and pet. Show class dogs are show no signs of defect, injury, or disease. They are splendid examples of their breed and will help to keep the breed useful and defect free. Pet quality dogs are usually those whom the breeder to be healthy animals yet not posses the best qualities representative of the breed. They are sold on the condition that they are to be spayed or neutured. Their registration actually prevents unscrupulous buyers from registering litters produced by them.

      The good effect of cloning is that by advancements in the procedures it may be possible to eliminate some defects that show up in various types of animals thereby improving the breeds.

      I am all for control of the pet population but it is just as selfish to condemn all breeders and sellers as it is to ignore the problem out there. Quite a few states PERMIT puppy-mills (Misourri is one). I am all for shutting down those places and the businesses that use them.
    • Ummm...they're animals; they're designed to be homeless. Yes, they will have to fight to survive: that's their natural state.
    • I hold nothing but extreme vitriol towards people that have children when there are so children that are out on the streets, starving and in orphanage's needing good homes. Same goes towards any religion that forbids birth control.

      People, please spay yourselves and don't allow your ego to perpetuate the suffering of homeless children.
  • http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/2 7/1923259&tid=191&tid=14 [slashdot.org]

    We can bring them back to life!

    We're going to have a canine overpopulation with zombie dogs and more being cloned...(hiding behind nearest available corner)

  • Department of Redundancy Department (Score:4, Funny)

    by Lord Crc ( 151920 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @04:26PM (#13234198)
    The research purpose of the research is...

    Wait, research has research purpose? When did this happen?

  • North Korea already did it (Score:5, Funny)

    by Just Some Guy ( 3352 ) <kirk+slashdot@strauser.com> on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @04:27PM (#13234217) Homepage Journal
    Kim Jong-Il memorized the dog genome and used a gene sequencer he personally invented - shrewdly using the alias "Dovichi" to avoid deflecting the glory from his Workers' Paradise to himself.

    His stated goal was to create a new golf club to allow every blissful, well-fed citizen to achieve holes-in-one, even on tricky dog legs.

    Up next: Kim writes The Iliad and Beowulf in one afternoon, after using his psyonic powers to defeat Canada (in preparation for a crippling attack of their southern neighbor).

  • Ok, I'm confused on this... (Score:5, Funny)

    by JargonScott ( 258797 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @04:27PM (#13234226)
    "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" was easy to remember, and often true.

    So, what is it now? You can now teach your new old dog new tricks? Or, you can only re-teach your new dog's tricks to the old dog? Do the old tricks come pre-installed, and how many new tricks can you stack on top?

    Wait, you can't teach your old dog new tricks, but the new dog....

    Forget it...

  • Cloning, breeding, who cares (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dachannien ( 617929 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2005 @04:33PM (#13234316)
    Quoth the article: "Canine cloning runs contrary to the Kennel Club's objective 'To promote in every way the general improvement of dogs'," Phil Buckley, spokesman for the Kennel Club told the BBC News website.

    But the KC does things like register particular breeds of dogs which, due to their popularity, have been improperly bred so that they develop a wide variety of health problems. Some breeds are even prone to genetic disorders even if they aren't inbred. So doesn't promoting the breeding of these susceptible dog breeds detract from the lives of those dogs?

    And besides that, there are so many dogs out there that are euthanized because nobody can find homes for them. Doesn't intentionally breeding more dogs in such an environment make life worse (as in, dead) for the dogs that get euthanized?

    Yes, I think that cloning animals to be pets is a bad idea, but aside from the multitude of failed clones, I don't get how that's any worse than breeding them. And at least the cloning scientists have a goal of improving the state of medicine for humans.

    • "have been improperly bred so that they develop a wide variety of health problems"

      That is due to lazyness or incompetence on the part of the breeder not the KC, the KC makes sure that proper breeding techniques are followed (as well as medical screenings of all dogs who are registered for breeding), as well as tracking bloodlines (papers) to help reduce the genetic dispositions for disorder.
    • I doubt that this process is significantly increasing the number of dogs out there. It's too hard, and too complex. If you want to worry about this you'd be much better off giving money to the local "neuter and spay" foundation rather than campaigning against cloning.

      This exists primarily to preserve lines you particularly care about, either as a breed or of a beloved pet. But 99.9999% of people will stick to the "going to the pound" theory of buying a dog (or buying one, or getting a puppy from a friend

  • w00f! (Score:2)

    by ettlz ( 639203 )
    Great, backup copies. I've always wanted a redundant array of independent dogs.
  • I apologize to my canine friends for comparing you to MicroSoft :-)
  • So what if Koreans (and Chinese) eat dogs. Why is this worth talking about?

    We think of them as pets, and others seem them was work-animals or food -- but so what?

    There are euros who eat horses. There's others who eat pig (a really nice and smart animal). Chinese eat rats. Blacks in Africa eat insects and other grubs.

    My hat's off to the Koreans for the science involved. While you are making dog-jokes, they are achieving great progress in the life sciences.
  • So the scientist went home, told his wife what he'd done, and she said "So what? I knitted an afghan today too..."

  • From the BBC article:
    "Sadly however, the media interest is likely to attract pet owners keen to re-create their much loved pets. .... However, another member of the cloning team, Dr Gerald Schatten from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, US, said they are not in the business of cloning pets. "The overall objective of this programme is to learn about the root causes of diseases," he told the BBC.

    This one particular team is doing cloning simply for medical disease research. What makes this kind

  • I always wondered about the religious issues concerning cloning. I cound never understand a couple of things.

    One -- if only god can give you a soul, does an animal you clone have a soul? If it does, did he put it in there even though you (supposedly) did something immoral?

    What's so terrible about playing god? all his creatures are wonderful, why not make more?

    i had more... but i just blanked. it's too late at night for this...

    (but if anyone else thinks the this-is-evil claim doesn't make sense, chip in.)
    • I agree with you 100%, if you don't mind I am now going to use this as my argument for cloning :P
    • I don't think animals have souls in Christian belief. They don't go to heaven, contrary to hollywood productions.

      I think the lion lying beside the lamb was metaphorical.

      Or at least these are tidbits I remember. I didn't pay much attention the few times I went to church.
  • You could rake in money hand over fist if you started a company based on this ("DogDuplicator, Inc"). Wealthy family's beloved pet passes away? No problem...Fido, Mark II!
  • The scientists were reverse engineering the work of God. So as a lab joke they used a doG.
  • Yes, I said, Woof! Woof!

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