Snuppy
| Species | Dog |
|---|---|
| Breed | Afghan Hound |
| Sex | Male |
| Born | April 24, 2005 |
| Nation from | South Korea |
| Known for | First ever cloned dog |
| Named after | Seoul National University |
| Awards | Time Magazine's Most Amazing Invention of 2005 |
Snuppy (Korean: 스너피 a portmanteau of "SNU" and "puppy"; born April 24, 2005) is an Afghan hound, credited with being the world's first cloned dog. The puppy was created using a cell from an ear from an adult Afghan hound and involved 123 surrogate mothers, of which only three produced pups (Snuppy being the sole survivor). Department of theriogenology and biotechnology at Seoul National University for cloning Snuppy was led by Woo Suk Hwang. Snuppy has since been used in the first known successful breeding between cloned canines, after his sperm was used to artificially inseminate two cloned females, which resulted in the birth of 10 puppies in 2008.
After Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1996, scientists had managed to clone numerous other animals, including cats, cows, gaur, horses, mice, mules, pigs, rabbits and rats but had been unable to successfully clone a dog due to the problematic task of maturing a canine ovum in an artificial environment. After several failed attempts by other scientists, Woo Suk Hwang, a lead researcher at Seoul National University, were able to successfully create a clone using tissue from the ear of a 3-year-old Afghan hound. 123 surrogate mothers were used to carry the embryos, of which 1,095 were implanted, the procedure resulted in only three pregnancies; one resulted in a miscarriage, the other pup was born successfully but died of pneumonia three weeks after birth, the successful clone was carried by a Labrador Retriever. From the original 1,095 embryos to the final two puppies, this placed the success rate of the project at less than two tenths of a percent. Snuppy was named as a portmanteau of the initials of the Seoul National University (SNU) and the word "puppy".
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