The decision to euthanise Dolly was made as she was suffering from a progressive lung disorder. The story is here
I am sure that much will be learned from the post mortem on Dolly.

I don't think it is too surprising that they've had to euthanize her so early.

Although it has been debated, Japanese scientists have been saying that clones age quicker than non-clones and that is why they believe clones have shorter life spans.

Aren't clones born with the same disorders,diseases and aging cells as the'parent'?
Just wondering.

I think the thinking was that our cells all have a 'use-by' date (if you will) and that they each know how old we are. But when you clone a cell, you also clone that 'use by' date so the clone is genetically as old as what it was cloned from.

How old was the sheep Dolly was cloned from? And what is the health status of that sheep?

Seems there was nothing too spectacular about Dolly's life, except that she was born! Perhaps in death, a post mortem will provide something useful to make this experiment all worth while.

Her 'mother' was six, which is roughly half the lfe span of a sheep, Dolly was six....

Ah ha - so that would make Dolly's genetic age at about 12 - the end of the lifespan of a normal sheep.

I understand she had several young ones throughout her life span. I wonder if they can learn anything useful from their study of her offspring.

Interesting that about her age, the same thought occured to me - it is unlikely to be just a coincidence, she did also have arthritis diagnosed at a young age which was unexpected. I just sincerely hope that those claims about having cloned humans is not true.

Dolly had four lambs, and it will be interesting to see if they progress normally and have no problems.

She was one very fortunate sheep, most of them wouldnt live to see their sixth birthday.

Of Course we cannot make any conclusions about wether or not cloning adversely affected her until more animals have been similiarly cloned, just one case doesnt prove anything.

I sure am glad though Dolly was a sheep and not a human.
However i have a sneaking feeling that someone somwhere in the world has already cloned a human being.

I hope this is not the case and with the great difficulty involved in the feat maybe i shouldnt worry but...

You know how when a woman gets older, her eggs have a greater chance of having something wrong with them. I wonder if a clone of a being around that age would have the same chances of something going wrong, even if they have offspring at a young age?