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Woolly Mammoth to be Cloned

Well preserved bone marrow from a woolly mammoth has been recovered in Siberia. A team of Russian and Japanese scientists has announced that it will use it in an attempt to clone a woolly mammoth within five years.

http://news.discovery.com/animals/woolly-mammoth-cloned-111205.html

Related article:

The team may have been unsuccessful in a previous attempt:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-scientists-aim-mammoth-life.html

Tags: Cloning, Jubinsky, Mammoth, Woolly

4 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mark D. Zima on December 6, 2011 at 9:37am

Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, mammoth burgers are coming!

Permalink Reply by Maruli Marulaki on December 6, 2011 at 11:28am

Sounds fascinating - I hope they succeed.

Permalink Reply by Alice on December 6, 2011 at 3:39pm

wow - that's wild - although they will need to use an egg and womb of another animal won't they? Or just the womb?

Permalink Reply by John Jubinsky on December 6, 2011 at 4:36pm

They use the egg of an elephant and the gestation is in an elephant. I hope the tusks aren't very large at birth!

Permalink Reply by Madhukar Kulkarni on December 6, 2011 at 7:31pm

"They use the egg of an elephant and the gestation is in an elephant. I hope the tusks aren't very large at birth!"

With this cloning procedure, the cloned animal will be a cross between an elephant and the mammoth. Am I correct?

MADHUKAR KULKARNI.

Permalink Reply by Maruli Marulaki on December 6, 2011 at 7:33pm

no, it will be a complete genetic and phenotypical copy of the mammoth, from which the genetic material has been taken.

Permalink Reply by Alice on December 7, 2011 at 3:03am

oh like dolly the sheep..... they hollow out the egg....

Permalink Reply by Alice on December 7, 2011 at 2:47am

so half mammoth and half elephant! :)

Permalink Reply by John Jubinsky on December 7, 2011 at 5:57am

No. The hollow egg has no elephant genes. All of the genes are the same as the mammoth they got the bone marrow from.

Permalink Reply by Madhukar Kulkarni on December 7, 2011 at 4:00pm

Why would it take five years?

MADHUKAR KULKARNI.

Permalink Reply by John Jubinsky on December 7, 2011 at 6:19pm

I assume the technique does not always take. In the abstract you will see a link that suggests they failed in a previous attempt. I suppose they will have to make arrangements to have an elephant carry the fetus.

Permalink Reply by Chris Dodds on December 7, 2011 at 9:53pm