The first animal to be successfully cloned is Dolly the sheep, created in 1996 by a team of scientists from the Roslin Institute in Scotland. Using a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), scientists took a nucleus from an adult somatic cell and inserted it into an enucleated egg cell. Dolly's successful cloning was groundbreaking as it challenged previous notions about cellular age and differentiation. Her birth sparked ethical and scientific discussions regarding cloning and genetic manipulation. Dolly lived until 2003, but her legacy continues to influence research in genetics, cloning, and biotechnology.