Estonia's first successfully cloned foal born in Tartu County
Estonia's first cloned foal was born on Saturday, making the country the second in Europe to develop the capability to clone horses.
The foal was born at a stable in Luunja, Tartu County, on April 11, with the help of veterinary scientists from the Estonian University of Life Sciences. Last year, ERR reported on the successful clone of the embryo.
The youngster is a genetic copy of the former sport stallion Wodan M and has been named Wodan M Alpha.
Wodan M was a successful competition horse and as a breeding stallion, he produced many high-quality offspring, the university said.
The foal is the result of years of cooperation between the university and Luunja Stud OÜ.
"The foal is strong and viable, but to protect its health, we will keep the stable under quarantine for some time," said Elina Tsopp, embryologist at the Estonian University of Life Sciences and lead scientist of the cloning process.
"One of the aims of horse cloning is to preserve the genetics of top-performing horses. Even more importantly, cloning technology can also help conserve endangered horse breeds," added Tsopp.
Estonia is one of the few countries in Europe working at such a high level in equine reproductive biotechnologies, the university said.
It is now the second country in Europe where a cloned foal has been successfully produced, following earlier successes at the Avantea center in Italy.
The Estonian University of Life Sciences scientists' cloning process differs from others in terms of the somatic cell source, as the cloned embryos were produced using stem cells.
In 2024, scientists from the Estonian University of Life Sciences, in cooperation with Luunja and Perila stables, also achieved the birth of Estonia's first intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) foal, Endex.
The technique sees a single sperm injected into a mature oocyte (egg) to create a "test-tube" embryo.
This marked an important step in the development of reproductive technologies in Estonia and provided momentum for pursuing horse cloning, the university added.
In Europe, only one company in Italy can perform a similar procedure, making the achievement of the Estonian University of Life Sciences highly significant, it said last year.
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Editor: Helen Wright
