Scientists have cloned the

first US endangered species, a black-footed ferret duplicated from the genes of

an animal that died over 30 years ago.

The slinky

predator named Elizabeth Ann, born Dec. 10 and announced Thursday, is cute as a

button. But watch out — unlike the domestic ferret foster mom who carried her

into the world, she’s wild at heart.

“You might have been

handling a black-footed ferret kit and then they try to take your finger off

the next day,” US Fish and Wildlife Service black-footed ferret recovery

coordinator Pete Gober said Thursday. “She’s holding her own.”

Elizabeth Ann was born

and is being raised at a Fish and Wildlife Service black-footed ferret breeding

facility in Fort Collins, Colorado. She’s a genetic copy of a ferret named

Willa who died in 1988 and whose remains were frozen in the early days of DNA

technology.

Black-footed ferrets are a

type of weasel easily recognized by dark eye markings resembling a robber’s

mask. Charismatic and nocturnal, they feed exclusively on prairie dogs while

living in the midst of the rodents’ sometimes vast burrow colonies.