Some plants and animals can make their own copies.

Want a strawberry patch? Put a few plants in healthy soil. Watch them multiply! Strawberries send out runners called stolons above ground. These take root to make clones.

Suppose a female Komodo dragon washes up on an island. No males around? No problem. She can make babies herself. Hammerhead sharks, marbled crayfish, and jellyfish all do something similar. But animal babies from a father and mother are usually better at fighting disease.

Plants and animals that clone also can become invasive. A strawberry patch can take over a yard. Marbled crayfish breed fast. They can overwhelm living spaces and bump out other creatures.

Nature can run into problems with cloning. So can people.

ViaGen Pets is a Texas company that clones animals. A dog clone costs $50,000. A cat clone costs $35,000.

Say a family has a dearly loved dog that dies. A cell nucleus from that dog’s tissues can be placed inside another dog cell in a lab. A female dog carries the changed cell in her womb. It grows. The mother dog gives birth to an identical twin of the pet dog. Family members who lost their pet may feel like they get a second chance. But is it the same pet? And is that better than taking in another animal that needs a home?

Critics of animal cloning say people should choose animals from shelters instead. Clones aren’t actually the original animals. They may act and even look different. There may be unexpected health problems.

God makes every plant and animal with His perfect design. We can explore God’s design. We respect God by recognizing that humans may have limits. We can never take over His role as Creator.

Pray people will be wise about how they study and work with God’s creation.

Why? People can research and test many things. That’s how we got seedless grapes! Scientists can do much good. But we need to be very careful with how we handle changes to life as God designed it.