MODEL RELEASED. Cloning research. Researcher using a mouth pipette to move oocyte cells in a container. A light microscope allows her to see the cells. Oocytes are collected from domestic sheep (Ovis aries) ovaries for use in cloning a rare type of wild sheep called a mouflon (Ovis orientalis musimon). During cloning, nuclear material is removed from the sheep oocytes and is replaced with that from mouflon body (somatic) cells. The resulting cloned oocyte is cultured to the blastocyst embryo stage before being implanted into a foster sheep for pregnancy. The first cloned mouflon was born by this method in October 2000 at the University of Teramo in Italy.