Former NFL quarterback Tom Brady revealed his current dog is actually a marvel of science Tuesday.
According to ESPN, Brady revealed that his pit bull mix Junie is actually a clone of his previous dog, Lua.
The clone was created by “de-extinction” company Colossal Biosciences. Brady is an investor in the company, according to reports.
“I love my animals,” Brady said in a statement. “They mean the world to me and my family. A few years ago, I worked with Colossal and leveraged their non-invasive cloning technology through a simple blood draw of our family’s elderly dog before she passed.”
The news came on the same day Colossal Biosciences, which also announced plans in 2023 to bring back the dodo bird, acquired Viagen Pets and Equine, another animal cloning company that got its start in livestock and genetic preservation.
Viagen has successfully cloned 15 species, including the black-footed ferret and Przewalski’s horse. It has also collected gene cultures of 22 threatened or endangered species, such as the Florida bonneted bat and the White rhino.
“No other company comes close to what Viagen has achieved,” said Ben Lamm, Founder and CEO of Colossal. “Their unmatched expertise and cloning technology stack have become the world’s standard and their application of these critical and proprietary technologies to endangered species conservation makes them an invaluable partner in advancing our global de-extinction and species preservation mission.”
Colossal said it has also accomplished its own feats in the field of genetic editing and cloning to bring back the dire wolf earlier this year, which was extinct. However, some groups dispute the claim.
“All you can do now is make something look superficially like something else”— not fully revive extinct species, said Vincent Lynch, a biologist at the University at Buffalo who was not involved in the research.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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