The woolly mammoth could be brought back from extinction using sperm extracted from animals encased in ice. Researchers have already found that sperm taken from the frozen reproductive organs of dead mice can produce viable offspring. Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they suggest that sperm from frozen mammoths could be used to bring the extinct creatures back to life. The idea would be to inject mammoth sperm, assuming it could be retrieved, into the eggs of female elephants. A successful pregnancy would produce the closest thing possible to a living woolly mammoth, the result of crossing one of the extinct animals with a close modern-day relative. Sperm is routinely frozen for IVF treatment, but has to be carefully stored and protected. The new research showed it is possible simply to freeze whole male mice, or their reproductive organs, and use the sperm extracted from them to produce offspring.

In one test, sperm were retrieved from the bodies of mice that had been kept frozen at minus 20C for 15 years. Some of the sperm successfully fertilised eggs after being injected into them. It was not known how long viable sperm could be frozen in animal bodies, the researchers said. But the findings raised the intriguing prospect of resurrecting extinct animals that had remained frozen since the ice age.

View: Full Article | Source: The Scotsman

You guys have posted SO many mammoth articles all saying basically the same thing. Post something NEW.

Even if they do come back. What about the food they used to eat? It'll be surprised if they do make a come back. If they pull this off.

grass, leaves. Last time I checked, we still have those.

...well. If it wasn't winter...

yea they would still eat the same things alive today were not tlaking dinos whos food left our planet a long time ago the food is still here and the oxygen levels are the same as theywere when they were still arpound a dino couldnt live today because theres less oxygen around now then back then and we couldnt live in the dinos time because the oxygen levels were so high it woudl be toxic to us. but this could work im nto against briing back animals whos downfall we brought on for instance the tasmanian tiger and such but i am against tryinmg to bring bakc animals whos down fall was not our cause. this woudl be intresting to see if it happens.

>.< No the plants they had in their time. Plants do die off, like the many plants during the dinosuars age.

Ferns were around during the jurassic period, they're still here. Plants today could still maintain dinosaurs, even though they are slightly different then the plants in the jurassic.

Mammoths became extinct extremely recently, men were alive at the time. Some species only died out around 5000 years ago.

Compared to the dinosaurs, which died out 65,500,000 years ago.



You're right about the oxygen.

Although I don't see how it's anymore justifiable to bring back an animal that became extinct (partly) due to human predation, than it is to revive a species that became extinct due to any other reason. They became extinct because they weren't fit for survival, just as every other currently extinct species did.

Woolly mammoths, and I assume that's the species we're talking about, were Ice Age creatures. Where would they be expected to live in a world that's warming up?

In 50 - 100 years there probably won't be much tundra and I don't see that keeping just 1 or 2 alive in a controlled environment would be either scientifically beneficial or ethically correct.

^Remember that they would only be hybrids (½ mammoth, ½ elephant). If need be, they could have their fur clipped and be put on specialized diets to lower their fat levels.

It's entirely possible.

Initially this is true, however I would assume the intent would be to create a breeding population? Some of the offspring would breed closer to the mammoth genome and so would require the more specialised habitat. Otherwise you would have to have a very expensive, continuous breeding program - perhaps entirely IVF to ensure correct hybridisation.

Are you suggesting perhaps a mammoth farm? Domesticated mammoth allowing humans to shear them for their wool?

Sorry if I sound slightly incredulous, I just don't see this idea as being at all practical regardless of it being possible.

Are they going to fill in the holes with frog DNA? Hahaha.

This is creepy. They're supposed to be dead.

TeraLink Was Here!

I agree, it could be quite a difficult task. But, if they're going to be able to successfully fertilise a modern elephant using a multi-thousand year old frozen mammoth sperm cell, the idea of breeding a hybrid with (presumably) another hybrid doesn't seem so incredible.



No, I didn't mean that at all. In response to your post; I meant the point of shearing the wool (and reducing fat) would be so that they'd be more comfortable in the warmer climate.

what if were all wrong on what they like to eat and they start eating us. i would be cool to go to the zoo and see one tho.

Next thing you know they will be trying to bring back a dinosaur back to life "to study it".
It is just wrong, they died out for a reason and should not be brought back to a world where they would be treated like guinea pigs...

I hope this can be done. It should be done. We should try to resurrect Ice Age animals if possible, because sooner or later, we will enter another glacial period. We are in the midst of a long series of ice ages, each about 100,000 years long, with 90,000 "glacial" and 10-15,000 interglacial, such as the present period. This interglacial should be about over were it not for global warming. Can we postpone the next glacial period indefinitely? Since climate is a complex, non-linear global system of currents of air and water, it would be foolish to be dogmatic. Either we flip over into a global tropical state, like the Mesozoic, or we must face the fact that we live in the midst of Ice Ages, which will last for millions of years, until the continents take a different configuration. Mammoths thrive in a glacial period, and so do mammoth hunters.

~~Cebrakon

You have to admit though, that we've had more than a fair impact on the extinction of some species; the mammoth included.

The do do would still be alive had it not been targeted by man... not for reasons of survival, but for fashion sense.

I'm just saying that just because a species is extinct; doesn't really mean it wasn't fit for survival... you know? We are man hear us roar. lol