Sheep ideal research subjects, and thus are not a common model organism. They have, however, played an influential role in some fields of science. In particular, the Roslin Institute of Edinburgh, Scotland used sheep for genetics research that produced groundbreaking results. In 1995, two ewes named Megan and Morag were the first mammals cloned from differentiated cells. A year later, a Finnish Dorset sheep named Dolly, dubbed "the world's most famous sheep" in "Scientific American", was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell. Following this, Polly and Molly were the first mammals to be simultaneously cloned and
The Marine Mammal Center Researchers at the Marine Mammal Center have discovered that domoic acid (DA) is the causative agent responsible for illness in a great many California sea lions. DA is naturally produced by the diatom "Pseudo-nitzschia". DA passes up the food chain as the diatoms are consumed by zooplankton. These zooplankton are then consumed by fish where the toxin accumulates. Fish are unharmed by it. California sea lions are disproportionate affected because they feed closer to shore, where more of these diatoms are present. When consumed by (marine) mammals, it activates neural pathways in the brain, specifically, the hippocampus. This neural activation