Posted on 02/01/2011 11:47:26 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Japanese scientists believe they have the technology and know-how to create a living woolly mammoth, a clone of a species that died thousands of years ago.
Finding a fully intact frozen woolly mammoth isnt enough, it seems. Now, a professor at Kyoto University in Japan is planning to bring the species back from extinction through cloning, reports the AFP. Dr. Akira Iritani plans to insert the nuclei of mammoth cells into a modern elephants egg cell, creating a woolly mammoth embryo that will be brought to term by an elephant mother. The elephant was chosen because it is the nearest modern relative to the mammoth. Woolly mammoths died out during the last ice age, more than 5,000 years ago. Iritani thinks he can resurrect one in five years.
The key is soft tissue. Unlike older extinct species like the dinosaur family, scientists have been able to dig up entire frozen mammoth carcasses in Siberia, most of which still have soft tissue with cells containing DNA. The key breakthrough is a new technique that allows the scientists to extract DNA from frozen cells. Previously, frozen cells were thought to be too damaged (by the freezing process) to use for things like cloning.
If a cloned embryo can be created, we need to discuss, before transplanting it into the womb, how to breed (the mammoth) and whether to display it to the public, Iritani said. After the mammoth is born, we will examine its ecology and genes to study why the species became extinct and other factors.
There is debate among the science community how exactly mammoths went extinct. Some believe that humans hunted the creatures to extinction while others believe that climate change did the furry elephants in. Lets just hope that all of these scientists give Jurassic Park a watch before they start completing the mammoth genetic codes with frog DNA.
Would you pay to see a living woolly mammoth?
It’s about time!
Be nice to be able to buy a wooly mammoth at Wal-Mart made by someone other than the Chinese.
Dumbozilla?
One Michelle is enough, already.
godzilla needs a pet.
I bet that would make one helluva carpet
Clone them on an island and sell hunting expeditions
I am also waiting for the rats who can detect explosives.
I picture letting a bunch of them loose on a minefield and watch them scurry to find their heavenly reward. I know I’d pay to watch. I think Off-Track-Betting could make a fortune in that venue.
What would it taste like BBQ’ed?
Ok, I'm ready for the list, who will next clone what?
How about Mammothra?
Hey I watched 20,000 Years B.C. Forget the mammoths, clone those Cave Women.
Didn’t this go terribly wrong in a Japanese movie plot already?
Instead of cloning woolly mammoths, the Japanese should be cloning replacement Japanese HUMANS because Japanese men and women are not procreating. Japan is declining in demographic terms and its population is steadily aging its way to oblivion. The death rate has exceeded the replacement birth rate for some time.
Wooly Mammoth yes, T-Rex no.
Any one know if they got the mother’s consent??? This is of course animal abuse. Speaking of abuse, anyone check to see that an elephant females birth canal can handle the size of a wolly mammoth baby? Ouch! After she drops that load it’ll look like the 405 expressway!
While the results were less spectacular, these same scientists have been working on this problem since they were teenagers.
As Fred D Thompson said about this, “I’m gonna need a bigger grill.”
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