First cloned wolf born via a beagle

A hundred days ago, Maya the Arctic wolf emerged from the womb of a beagle. And that was only the second most unusual thing about her.

The most unusual was that she was a clone: created from a skin cell harvested from her real, genetic, mother.

Sinogene, a Chinese biotechnology company, has now released pictures of Maya, who is the first ever cloned wolf.

She was created using the technique pioneered in 1996 in the UK on Dolly the sheep, and since replicated in other species, including beloved pet dogs.

Born on June 10, Maya is derived from cells taken from a female wolf, inserted into the egg of a dog and then gestated in the womb of a beagle.

The scientists who carried out the procedure said she was healthy and thriving. Unlike a normal wolf, which shares half the genome of its father and half its mother, Maya is genetically identical to the wolf from which the skin cells were taken.