Dolly, Scotland's Most Famous Sheep, Goes On Show

Left: does this sheep look like
a scientific miracle to you?







© Roslin Institute, Edinburgh.

The body of a sheep called Dolly is being stuffed and put on display in Edinburgh's Royal Museum next month.

Why is a dead sheep being put in a museum? Well, Dolly was a very special sheep.

Dolly was famous all over the world because of the way she was born, in 1996. She was the world's first cloned mammal. A clone is a very tricky thing to explain, but we'll give it a go.

Right: can you see the single cell in the middle of this photo?



© Roslin Institute, Edinburgh.

All living things are made up of tiny, tiny cells. Normally, when a new living thing is made, a cell from its mother and a cell from its father join together and then grow into lots and lots of new cells that form the baby creature.

Dolly was special because she didn't have a father. Scientists took a cell from her mother, and made it grow into a new lamb without using a father sheep's cell at all. This is called cloning.

Left: Dolly's
first lamb,
Bonnie, next
to her famous
mum.







© Roslin Institute, Edinburgh.

Cloning is a very difficult and complicated thing to do and Dolly was the first mammal that scientists managed to grow like this.

Some people think that cloning is a good idea and scientists should try to find out more about it. Others believe it should never have happened and scientists should stop working on cloning.

Dolly's birth was reported all over the world. Now that she has died, the scientists and museum staff are putting her body into the Royal Museum, so that we can all see this special animal for years to come.