Woolly mammoth will be resurrected within two years, scientists reveal

Wooly mammoths could be brought back from extinction in a revised form within two years, the scientist behind a groundbreaking reseurrection project have claimed.

World-renowned geneticist Prof George Church and his team at Harvard University have been working on recreating the DNA blueprint of the mammoth for the past two years. They have used DNA from mammoths that were preserved in the Arctic permafrost to look for the genes that separated them from elephants, such as those that code for a shaggy coat, large ears and antifreeze blood. By splicing these genes into the genome of an elephant embryo, the scientists believe they can create a mammoth-elephant hybrid, which would have all the recognizable features of a mammoth.

“Our aim is to produce a hybrid elephant-mammoth embryo,” Church said. “Actually, it would be more like an elephant with a number of mammoth traits. We’re not there yet, but it could happen in a couple of years.”

Lab tests have already shown that cells function normally with mammoth and elephant DNA and the scientists are now planning to grow a mammoth embryo within an artificial womb, rather than use a female elephant as a surrogate mother.

Since starting the ambitious project in 2015, the scientists have increased the number of “edits” where mammoth DNA has been spliced into the elephant genome from 15 to 45.

“The list of edits affects things that contribute to the success of elephants in cold environments. We already know about ones to do with small ears, sub-cutaneous fat, hair and blood, but there are others that seem to be positively selected.”

The woolly mammoth roamed around Europe, Africa, Asia and North America during the last Ice Age and vanished round 4,500 years ago, probably due to a combination of climate change and over-hunting. Their closest living relative is the Asian, not the African, elephant.