The Woolly Mammoth: Will He Walk This Earth Again?
The possibility of the Woolly Mammoth roaming the earth once more is very real thanks to science. This is made possible due to DNA. Where did science get the intact DNA required to even assume the possibility of resurrecting the Wholly Mammoth? It was due to nature that made the possibility of resurrecting this massive animal possible. Come with me on a journey that takes you from the extinction of the Woolly Mammoth to the present day hope of resurrecting the past.
Ten thousand years ago our planet went through an ice age. It is thought that the Woolly Mammoth along with other species such as the sabre tooth tiger, giant ground sloths and woolly rhinos went extinct by not being able to adapt to the conditions that the Ice Age brought to our world. Mammoths are thought to have roamed this planet for two million years up to ten thousand years ago when they went extinct.
It took a series of events of nature to even think of the possibility of bringing this animal back and will take a fair amount of time in the future to make it a reality. A Woolly Mammoth was found in the permafrost of Siberia. Nature has preserved the carcass well as almost all of the Woolly Mammoths body was intact. The remains of this animal are being kept in freezers in a Russian research lab. Unlike other animals that became fossilized the mammoth that was found was so well preserved by the frost and ice the animal still had hair, muscle and skin and genitals which gives scientist all they need to extract the DNA.
Meanwhile Japan Kinki University hope to retrieve the sperm cells of this mammoth and implant it into the cells of today’s African or Indian elephants. The eggs will be taken from elephants that have died. Japan zoos are asking for egg donations from these elephants. Once this is done the embryo will be implanted in the elephant’s womb. Elephants are the closest relative of the Woolly Mammoth that still lives on our planet.
Scientist lay out a plan of how this would work. After extracting the DNA from the sperm of the mammoth and joining it with the egg of the elephant they would implant the egg into the modern day elephant it would take approximately 600 days before the baby is born. This baby should be a replica of the Woolly Mammoth that once roamed this earth. The baby mammoth would not have any of the mothers genes when it is born as the elephant would only be the surrogate mother.
This experiment will take five years in the making. It will take as long as two years to even get the embryo ready for implantation. Joining Japan in this project will be Russia and the United States. Of course, these very scientists are pondering how to present this Woolly Mammoth to the world if everything falls into place as planned. They are already wondering if the Woolly Mammoth will be put on display to the public.
It is an awesome thought to think there is a possibility of raising this Woolly Mammoth from the grave. It has already been done with mice that had been frozen for 16 years, so this is not as far-fetched as it seems it could become a reality sooner than we think. It may be a stretch for the human imagination but a very exciting one that just might become a reality.
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