Dolly the sheep dies

I just saw this on Google News: Dolly, World's First Cloned Mammal, Dies. Dolly was 6 years old. I wonder if that's normal for a sheep? I remember there was some debate about whether Dolly would live as long as a regular sheep because the DNA that forms her cells was already old.

Oh, New Scientist says she died young:

Some cloned mammals, including Dolly, have shorter telomeres than other animals of the same age. These are pieces of DNA that protect the ends of chromosomes and research has shown that they act as molecular clocks, governing the process of ageing in cells.

New Scientist says sheep usually live to be 11 or 12 years old. Since Dolly's DNA was taken from a sheep that was 6 years old, that means her "total lifespan" was equal to that of a normal sheep. Disturbing implications for cloning research...