Sheep cloning. Conceptual image of cloning showing a sheep being copied by two technicians to form lots of smaller sheep. A clone is a genetically identical copy of an organism. Cloning involves taking the genetic material from the cell you wish to clone and implanting it into an egg cell (ovum) from which the genetic material has been stripped. In Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1997, Ian Wilmut cloned the first sheep, Dolly, from an adult sheep cell.