The zoo in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin has a new pet - a three-month-old cloned polar wolf, DPA reported.

The animal was created from the skin cells of a wild she-wolf named Maya.

It was worn by a beagle surrogate mother.

At three months old, he is healthy and lives with his surrogate mother at Polarland Zoo. 

"Cloning is an effective way to preserve genetic diversity and increase population," said Lai Lianxue of the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health. 

The wolf is no longer a protected species in the US

A second polar wolf is expected to be born soon. 

The polar wolf, also called the White Wolf, belongs to the Kuchevi family.

It inhabits northern Canada and Greenland and is not endangered. 

Cloning produces genetically identical individuals without gene modifications. 

VIDEO: Ten months after an Arctic wolf died at a zoo in northern China, a new cub was born through cloning technology.

Using a beagle dog as the gestational carrier, Beijing-based Sinogene Biotechnology claims they have cloned an Arctic wolf, the "world's first" of its kind.

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— AFP News Agency (@AFP) September 23, 2022

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