woolly mammothMost of us enjoy watching dinosaurs on the screen and one of the reasons is the fact that they are extinct. There are many species that are extinct but my second favorite extinct animal is mammoth. If you like mammoths then you should read this because you may soon see a live one. Scientists found a thigh bone in Siberia having a well-preserver bone marrow of mammuthus primigenius, also known as woolly mammoth. Now scientists believe that they can create a clone of the mammoth within five years. This will be possible by replacing the nuclei of an elephant’s egg cells with the mammoth’s as elephants and mammoths are closed relatives.

After replacing the nuclei of the egg cell they will plant the modified embryo into elephant wombs for delivery. Nuclei must be from an undamaged gene in order for the procedure to be successful. The last mammoth was alive about 10000 years ago and if scientists succeed on this then dinosaurs are next (if they found undamaged dinosaur genes). Five years is not a long time to wait for such breakthrough.

Source: [Daily Mail], Image [BBC UK]

Cloned woolly mammoth