Mammoths Might Live Again Soon

Mammoths are species of elephants which disappeared 10,000 years ago. They have weighed 8 tonnes and have been 4 meters tall. But some species have weighed up to 12 tonnes. These mammoths, which live in cooler environments have coat and the other species which have lived in warmer environments were uncoated and they looked like today’s elephant. They have been eating grass only. The reason why mammoths disappeared in fact, is the climate, which began to warm and the trees started to grow taller, and thus forests appeared.  

The first fossil of mammoth was discovered around 1700. To this day paleontologists have been founding many fossils of mammoths. Some of these fossils were found frozen and some parts of them unfrozen. In the today’s genetics researches have one method which allows them to get these giant and beautiful animals back on Earth. This method is called cloning.

Cloning is a method which allows us to get two identical organisms. The first step is getting an embryo from the elephant in laboratory environment with in vitro fertilization. Then, fresh tissue from a mammoth fossil is needed and the cell from the tissue is mapped. Before cloning, the scientist must get DNA from the mammoth to know which parts of DNA must interpolate in the embryo cells of the elephant.

When the DNA have been successfully interpolated in embryo cells, it will be imported in a uterus of a female elephant, which is the surrogate mother. This method still needs to be further developed, but scientists estimate that we’ll have mammoths among us again in 30-50 years.