Dolly Parton Reveals What She Thinks About The Sheep Named After Her
In 1996, the world was stunned when scientists in Scotland announced that they had successfully managed to clone a sheep. Technically, what they did was take DNA from a grown sheep's mammary gland and created a little lamb they called "Dolly," named for American country music sensation Dolly Parton, according to History. Apparently, one of the men who helped birth the cloned sheep suggested the name after hearing that mammary glands went into creating the animal, and Parton has always been known for her buxom assets.
The successful cloning of a mammal seemed to open up a world of possibilities for the scientific community, with experts wondering if this technology could be used to help cure diseases and save endangered species. The phenomenon even got another pop culture boost when the CBS soap opera, "Guiding Light," chose to clone one of its most popular characters, Reva Shayne, according to Soaps.com. In the storyline, the clone was even named Dolly. Sadly, the sheep named Dolly passed away at just six years old, but how did the singer Parton feel about all this?
Dolly Parton never forgot her part in a scientific phenomenon
In 2014, when Dolly Parton made it to Scotland on tour, The Daily Record needed to know her thoughts on the cloned sheep that was born in Scotland and given the name Dolly nearly two decades prior.
"Dolly The Sheep was very popular for a long time but I believe she passed away," Parton told The Daily Record. "I was told she was called after me because she had big mammary glands. She gave me a lot of competition but I heard that when they first named her they used the mammary glands for cloning and the scientist who came up with that thought he had to name her Dolly. I never met her but I always said there's no such thing as baaad publicity." As she said the word, bad, Parton elongated the sound to make it seem like she was imitating a sheep.
In 2020, Parton chose to contribute more to the scientific community when she donated $1 million to help fund the research needed to create the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, which the country superstar received herself in March 2021 (via The New York Times).