Nearly a decade ago, on December 22, 2001, scientists at Texas A&M University announced the birth of CC, the world’s first cloned cat. CC, as in Copy Cat, has the same DNA blueprint as her genetic mother, Rainbow. So, like identical twins they share the same genetic code. That means everything’s the same—their looks, their mannerisms.
A closer view in color reveals they don’t actually look identical. In fact, technically they’re not even the same color. Rainbow, with her spackling of orange mixed in with patches of black accentuated by a white belly and legs is calico while CC, who has no orange coloring at all, is a tiger-tabby. Is CC really a clone or is this another example of what some scientists call the Jurassic phenomenon.
Dr. Leslie Lyons, an associate professor of genetics at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine was the first person with the answer back in 2001. “Texas A&M sent us samples blind to see whether the cells lines were identical,” says Lyons. “We were called upon because we have a large genetic database on the domestic cat.”
Lyons wasn’t told the cells were from a cloning project, but she promptly determined that the cell lines were identical and in doing so she confirmed that CC was indeed a clone of Rainbow (only CC is a clone).