Dog cloned

The world's first cloned dog has been created.

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Snuppy was created by scientists in Seoul, South Korea from skin cells taken from the ear of a three-year-old Afghan hound called Tai.

The cells were then placed in an unfertilised egg from a female labrador. The egg was treated with electric current to begin its transformation to an embryo before it was put back in the labrador's womb.

Snuppy is now 14 weeks old reports The Sun.

The Korean team led by Professor Woo Suk Hwang transplanted more than 1,000 embryos into 123 bitches according to the journal Nature.

The result was just three pregnancies. One miscarried and another died from pneumonia after three weeks.

News of Snuppy's birth is expected to bring a flood of inquiries from dog-lovers who want to clone their pets.

Professor Woo says cloning pets is not the point of his research. He said: "Our goal is to find cures for debilitating diseases and illnesses."

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