Woolly Mammoth Could Soon Be Cloned

Marrow cells taken from mammoth remains could bring prehistoric pachyderm back to life.

Russian and Japanese scientists could soon begin a project to clone a woolly mammoth from immaculately preserved bone marrow cells found in the remains of one of the extinct mammals. The mammoth bone was uncovered in northern Russia earlier this year, and had been preserved so well because it was buried in land usually covered in permafrost. The research team will soon unveil plans that will see them extract the nuclei of the marrow cells, then replace the nuclei of egg cells from an elephant with the marrow nuclei. As elephants are the mammoth's closest living relative, it's expected that the surrogate elephant mother ought to be able to bring a baby mammoth to term. Just what will happen to the mammoth once it's alive and well, though, is anyone's guess. Mammoths last roamed across Eurasia and North America about 10,000 years ago.

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