Dolly the sheep was the first mammal ever cloned from an adult body cell.

Dolly was born on July 5, 1996, at the Roslin Institute in Scotland, marking a revolutionary milestone in genetics. Led by researchers Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell, the team used a technique called Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT). This process involved removing the nucleus from an unfertilized sheep egg and replacing it with the nucleus of a mammary gland cell from a six-year-old Finn Dorset sheep.The experiment was a massive technical challenge, as it took 277 attempts to produce just one successful embryo that survived to birth. This breakthrough debunked the long-held scientific belief that adult cells were permanently 'programmed' for their specific functions. It proved that the DNA from a specialized cell could be reset to a pluripotent state, capable of growing an entire new organism.Dolly was named after singer Dolly Parton because the donor cell came from a mammary gland. During her life, she lived a normal existence at the Roslin Institute and bred naturally with a Welsh Mountain ram named David. She produced a total of six lambs: Bonnie, twins Sally and Rosie, and triplets Lucy, Darcy, and Cotton.Dolly was euthanized on February 14, 2003, at the age of six due to progressive lung disease and severe arthritis. While some feared cloning caused premature aging, studies on other cloned sheep suggest they can live healthy lives. Today, Dolly's preserved remains are on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.