Dolly: A Stuffed Sheep?

Scientists think they've found the best way to pay tribute to Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal.

After her death, they're going to stuff her.

The Roslin Institute, which cloned Dolly from an adult sheep in 1996 using groundbreaking technology, announced Friday that it has made a deal with the National Museums of Scotland to preserve Dolly.

Mark Shaw, the museums' keeper of geology and zoology, called Dolly a "20th-century scientific icon."

"We want to acquire Dolly principally because of the display potential and impact a mounted specimen would have," he said.

Dolly was born on July 5, 1996, but her arrival wasn't announced until seven months later when she made headlines as the first mammal cloned from the cell of another adult mammal.

News of her birth raised concerns about the possible cloning of humans and generated ethical debate in many countries.

Cloning also has opened fresh areas of medical research and led to new drugs for heart attack, cystic fibrosis and stroke and to easier methods of scientific testing.

A Finn Dorset breed named after country singer Dolly Parton, Dolly gave birth in April to a ewe named Bonnie.

The national museums will have to wait a bit to put her on display: Scientists say Dolly could live another 15 years.