Scientists to bring back woolly mammoth

A new biotech firm wants to bring the woolly mammoth back to life by using CRISPR gene-editing technology to insert an extinct mammoth’s DNA into the genome of an Asian elephant.

Context

A new biotech firm wants to bring the woolly mammoth back to life by using CRISPR gene-editing technology to insert an extinct mammoth’s DNA into the genome of an Asian elephant.

About the species

• Woolly mammoths went extinct around 4,000 years ago at the end of the last “ice-age”.  
• They may have died off when the weather became warmer and their food supply changed. 
• Their ears were smaller than those of today’s elephants. This was probably an adaptation to the cold climate that kept their ears closer to their heads and kept them warmer.
• Their tusks were very long, about 15 feet (5 meters) and were used for fighting and digging in the deep snow.
• Mammoths were herbivores and ate mostly grass, but also ate other types of plants and flowers.

 How will it be done?

• The DNA, collected from mammoth tusks, bones and other preserved body parts found in ice, will be sequenced to create an “elephant-mammoth hybrid” that looks like a furrier, larger elephant with smaller ears and a high-domed head.