Could a Woolly Mammoth Be Cloned in the Next 5 Years?
- Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:31pm by
Liz Klimas
- Print »
- Email »
It‘s not quite Jurassic Park but it’s close enough. Scientists using well-persevered bone marrow cells from a thigh bone found in the Siberian permafrost believe they will have a viable clone within five years.
The Daily Mail reports that Russia‘s Sakha Republic’s mammoth museum and Japan’s Kinki University will be using enucleated elephant eggs into which they will insert the nucleus from the mammoth’s bone marrow cells to create a clone. An elephant would also play surrogate mother with the embryo being placed in its womb to grow to term.
- This diagram depicts cloning of a woolly mammoth, but this time researchers seek to use bone marrow cells as a nucleus donor. (Image: The Telegraph)
Although scientists have been striving to clone mammoths since the 1990s, they have had problems finding cells with nuclei in tact, according to the Daily Mail. The scientists are reported as saying they believe these bone marrow cells have a greater chance of success.
- Lyuba was the first of two calfs found frozen in the Russian permafrost in recent years. (Photo: Daniel Fisher/University of Michigan)
Earlier this year, a baby woolly mammoth was found in surprising condition in Russia’s arctic permafrost. This second mammoth calf found in Russia is currently being researched for age and level of preservation, among other things.
Popular Stories
Does Misstated Marathon Claim Prove Paul Ryan Is Dishonest? (POLL) 677 Comments
‘Jumah at the DNC’ Speaker: ‘Muslims Visited America Prior to Columbus’ & ‘It Was a Muslim’ Who Guided Him to the ‘New World’ 528 Comments
Paper Details Obama Admin’s Alleged Secret Note Sent to Iran: If Israel Attacks, We Won’t Get Involved 416 Comments
Obama: RNC Like Watching ‘Black-and-White TV’ Because Romney ‘Did Not Offer a Single New Idea’ 373 Comments
Roseanne Barr: Most Billionaires ‘Violent Pedophiles’ & ‘Heartless’ Cocaine Addicts 329 Comments
Faith
This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 268 Comments- Pakistani Muslim Cleric Accused of Framing Disabled Christian Girl in Koran-Burning Case Read More
- ‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 279 Comments
Meet the Controversial German Imam Accused of Brutally Beating His Wife & Pushing Sharia Law Read More
‘Self-Proclaimed Messiah’ & Unification Church Leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon Has Died — Here’s His Life Story Read More
Business
President Obama Issues Major ‘Green Energy’ Executive Order 153 Comments- Germany’s Upcoming Court Ruling Will be Huge for the EU Read More
Ford Looks to Beat Toyota for Best-Selling Car in 2012 With This Model 147 Comments
Bernanke & QE3: Here’s What You Need to Know Read More- ‘Extortion’: Why Did the Labor Department ‘Drop the Hammer’ on Oregon Farmers? 300 Comments
Technology
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 268 Comments
‘TaserDrone’: Hackers Weaponize Quadcopter With Actual ‘Shocking’ Technology Read More
Ever Heard of the Wild ‘Burning Man’ Festival in the Middle of the Nev. Desert? Here’s Your Primer Read More
Stanford Develops Technology ‘Better Than Steroids’ for Athlete Recovery Read More
Have You Pretended to Know What ‘the Cloud’ Is? You’re Not Alone Read More
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Comments (119)
Dexter Alarius
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:45pmUm, “intact”, not “in tact”.
Report Post »Please send a check in the usual amount for my editing services, to the usual address.
You’re welcome.
Quiata
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 6:09pmAnd it’s “well-preserved bone marrow”, NOT “well-persevered”….what “skools” did these journalists attend? Hmmmm…..
Report Post »Gold Coin & Economic News
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 8:10pmWhy would we want to bring George Soros back to life?
Report Post »walleye01
Posted on December 6, 2011 at 7:44amper·se·veredper·se·ver·ing
Definition of PERSEVERE
intransitive verb
: to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement
it works
Report Post »Oldphoto678
Posted on December 6, 2011 at 8:38am“I feel sorry for people that only know houw to spell words one way.”
Report Post »Mark Twain
KickinBack
Posted on December 6, 2011 at 12:11pmGlobal warming killed the mammoths. So lets bring them back and let global warming kill them again—-Liberal logic.
Report Post »Cape_Lookout_RW_Extremist
Posted on December 7, 2011 at 9:16amNot true! The first lady is already alive in the white house now!
Report Post »inferno
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:37pmIf it can and is done, will the Mammoth bring with it microbes that existed , what 14,000 years ago be part of the package. Do virilogists believe we humans would be immune from those microbes ? Sounds like a Pandora’s box to me ! Are sure we wish to open it ?
Report Post »broker0101
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:44pmMicrobes? Virologists? You must be one of them fancy, book-learnin’ “scientist” types. Impressive!
Report Post »Cthulu
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:46pmAre the microbes in the bone marrow cells?
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:53pmIt seems as though mankind can not learn.
Report Post »cliffattheblaze
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:57pmNo, that’s wrong. It would be possible to bring microbes and viruses if they brought the whole animal into a lab, like they did with the Ice Man, but not if they are taking out the nucleus and stuffing it into an elephant’s egg.
Report Post »Carter John
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 4:17pmThe problem would be if the clone would be capable of living in modern times. The DNA code might be lacking the necessary structures to provide a strong enough immune system. As history shows that viruses mutate over time to become even more deadly, that is unless the virus dies from a lack of transition to another host. Since the clone would be using an embryo from a modern cell there would be no possible contamination. Also since these mammoths were frozen in permafrost the chance of any surviving Virus or Bacteria is well within the negligible range.
Report Post »Patrick Henry II
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 4:20pmAs long as they are not cloning humans, using our tax dollars or dropping them off in my back yard; who cares.
Report Post »If it does not pick you pocket or break your leg, why worry?
Firebrand
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 4:35pm@ inferno
Report Post »Short answer. You wouldn’t have to worry about it from the clone. You would have to be careful with the carcass, since it most likely has dormant pathogens in it or on it somewhere. Viruses are just protein and genetic material. They can last for a very long time (especially if they’ve been kept frozen). Bacteria can have a high survival rate if they are encased in a “protecting” tissue before freezing, as this minimizes ice crystals that puncture the bacteria. But, the clone wouldn’t be an issue.
V-MAN MACE
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 7:51pmWhy do they want to bring back haury elephants?
We can’t even take care of the elephants we already have… I don’t see the point.
Report Post »IMAWAKENOW
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 8:47pmScrew the bacteria, do they taste like chicken? If you can‘t eat e’m, what’s the use?
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 8:48pmThey are… alike OWS… Educated… IDIOTS!
Report Post »SgtB
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 11:19pmIf there were any viruses or bacterium that could do us harm in this mammoth, the chances are that they would already be in our environment. And they certainly won’t come from the cloned animal. Also, to the person who said the animal would have a weakened immune system…
That is highly possible, however, the cloned mammoth would most likely receive the necessary bacteria for digestion from the surrogate elephant and could very well receive initial immunization from that elephant’s milk. Babies are born with very little in the way of an immune system. This mammoth would be no different. Its‘ immune system and white blood cells would probably adapt to handle today’s bacteria and viruses just like ours do on a daily basis.
What is strage here is that in order for this to work they would need to create at least a couple breeding pairs and we don’t have that many well preserved mamoths. Also, what would the release of an animal long extinct into the Canadian or Russian wild do to current animal populations? Would the vast herds of caribou be threatened in a century or two by uncontrolled mammoth populations? Granted, an elephant or larger sized animal would probably be one of the easiest animal species to control the population of, but why would we want to burden ourselves with such a thing? We already have a tough enough time trying to “save” every other animal species. I kind of like George Carlin’s take on this.
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOn0ePaq8sw
Dug2Dark
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:27pmYeah, I love it, a super elephant to stomp out demorats.
Report Post »PKama
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 4:23pmBWAHAHAHA !!!! Very good one.
Report Post »jingoistic.patriot
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:24pmIt’s extinct for a reason. Hopefully it will be joined very, very soon by Progressives.
Report Post »Blackop
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:30pmWwjd?
Report Post »Arshloch
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:17pmWith a little luck, NO. If that were to occur then the EEE-COL-I-GISTS would have another cause to use in screwing up the economy. Unless, of course, it could be trained to eat EEE-COL-I-GISTS.
Report Post »Weiners Wiener
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:08pmHate to spoil the fun for people anticipating a future living population of wooly mammoths, but it won’t happen. DNA breaks down with age, leading to all kinds of problems (cancer, for one). When DNA is cloned, you do not get a ‘like-new’ clone, you get a new gentic sample that has the same aged characteristics of the source sample. That‘s why cloned sheep and other experiments in this field haven’t lived very long; even though they are new to this earth when they are born, the DNA that controls all cell functions in their bodies matches the age of the source it was taken from.
Report Post »sick
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:27pmIm sure you have all the qualifications to make that assessment.
Report Post »Firebrand
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 4:28pmThe cells are coming from a baby mammoth, so telomere degradation shouldn’t be the major concern. The major concern is going to be actual whole DNA degradation due to time and the environment of the frozen mammoth. One thing that has to be realized is that DNA is two covalently bound backbones (very strong bonds) held together with hydrogen bonds (by themselves not very strong, but all together, very strong). With the cells of the mammoth being stored in ice for so many years, there’s a good chance that there is still a viable sample somewhere within the whole creature.
Report Post »Firebrand
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 4:44pmI wanted to add that the point I was trying to make is that DNA is a pretty hearty chemical. So for you MOBO’s out there that are going to get technical… The bases are hydrogen bonded and connected by the PO4 backbones which are themselves held together by covalent bonds.
-Making sure the technicality police don’t start screaming.-
Report Post »circleDwagons
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 8:21pmhey weiner, they are trying to clone a baby wooly… but you are right about mutations… coool
Report Post »Zen Patriot
Posted on December 6, 2011 at 1:17pmYeah, those scientists are probably just guessin’ ;)
Report Post »Glytch
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:05pmQuote: LLOYD DRAKO
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:52pm
How is this playing God? People have been cloning food plants for thousands of years–e.g. the banana.
Did you ju… wait, people have been cloning food for thousands of years huh? You might want to check in on that statement of yours, or question source you got that from…
But I don’t see a problem with this. It isn’t “playing God.” We’re not genetically altering something. They’re simply seeing if they can bring back a species.
Now, if you want to talk about “playing God,” look at the crap they are doing with our food. It’s far less healthy, and some of it is even dangerous. Look at the genetic alterations to animals, or the virus‘s we’re creating and releasing into the wild.
This is nothing, and rather tame compared to the other nonsense they’re doing.
Report Post »Rob Adkerson
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 4:53pmGlytch, It sounds like you don’t know what cloning in relation to plants is.
Report Post »Rob Adkerson
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 4:55pmGlytch, I’m not sure you understand what plant cloning is. Check YOUR sources sir.
Report Post »Fight for America
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:05pmWow!
Report Post »Blight14
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:04pmHa, this is REALLY going to upset the fundies at the ‘Creationist’ charade, er museum…….whats that, the earth ISN’T 6000 years old after all……?????
Report Post »wwjdwtyler
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 5:52pmHow so? I don’t see anything here against that view.
Report Post »UrbanFool
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:04pmHave we learned nothing from Jurassic Park? I wouldn’t try to clone anything bigger than my thumb.
Report Post »gmoneytx
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:02pmCan we clone Reagan to beat the trash we have in the WH now!
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:59pmCan we clone Reagan or Goldwater to run next year?
Report Post »n8dogg
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:21pmIf only…
Report Post »circleDwagons
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 8:24pmwe have RON PAUL!!!!
Report Post »oldschoolgreen
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:58pmJust in time for the return of the ice age. No seriously.
Report Post »Bluefish49
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:53pmHey…I saw Fred Flintstone have Woolly Mamoth Ribs delivered to his car…wummy!
Report Post »Zen Patriot
Posted on December 6, 2011 at 1:19pmA new McRib sandwich! Awesome!
Report Post »Lloyd Drako
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:53pmNext, Neandertals. Onward and upward!
Report Post »booger71
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 4:24pmAlready have them, called Progressives.
Report Post »biohazard23
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:52pmWait, a 600-day long pregnancy???? Oh, hell no!!!!
Report Post »Dadwithallthecoolstuff
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:47pmPlaying God never works out too good…watch Jurasiac Park.
Report Post »Lloyd Drako
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:52pmHow is this playing God? People have been cloning food plants for thousands of years–e.g. the banana.
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:57pmWoolly Mammoths are herbivores, unlike velociraptors and T-Rexes. I don’t think anyone will be killed unless they get under the animal, and even then, it would get tamed.
Report Post »JRook
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:04pmConsidering what we do to Elephants and similar species, they have more to fear than we do. Don’t see the God tie here as I thought it was clear through many of the posts that think we should empty the oceans and blank out the landscape of wild animals through hunting, that man had purview over animals.
Report Post »BiloxiBacon
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:10pmJurassic Park was a fictional tale! Open your eyes, stop being an idiot!
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:44pmThey could use Obama’s dna to fill in the missing chunks, he’s got to be far enough down the evolutionary ladder than any other mammal.
Report Post »arfarb55
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 8:50pmROTFLMAO! (Rolling on the floor laughing my a@@ off) Good one and FUNNY!
Report Post »JustMel71
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:42pmProbably along with the DNA to build the perfect species.
S.Bill 1867 NDAA
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:S.1867:
Report Post »USAMEDIC3008
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:54pmdid you mean DNC.
Report Post »JustMel71
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:09pm@USAMEDIC3008 oy vey! Good God no. Hope you were joking.
Report Post »USAMEDIC3008
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 11:04pmOhh you waskelwe wabbitt
Report Post »I thought thay wer yakinng abot clowning.
never mind
JLGunner
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:41pmI heard they made wonderful house pets.
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:41pmMy ex girlfriend had a wooly mammoth, thats why shes my ex ; ))..
Report Post »JLGunner
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:53pmHurllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Report Post »I.Gaspar
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:17pmHad a? or was a?
Report Post »concealled9mms
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:41pmhey maybe we could reverse the effects of liberals and declone them so they dont exist anymore
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:40pmWill you be able to hunt them?? I wonder how the meat tastes? It must have been pretty good. The cavemen seemed to like it.
Report Post »Soon..they will be like deer. There will be a hunting season. There also will be ‘mammoth zones’ where townships will let them run free. Nothing like a Mammoth in your garbage can early in the morning.
ZAP
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:49pmI heard it tastes like chicken
Report Post »RazorsEdge
Posted on December 9, 2011 at 1:14amStarving Parisians ate the Elephants in the Zoo during siege of Paris in Franco Prussian war. They said the more you chewed, the bigger it got in your mouth.
Report Post »meamerican
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:39pmBetter questions: SHOULD A WOOLLY MAMMOTH BE CLONED IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS?
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
Report Post »Locked
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:46pmWhy would you not want them to be cloned? Besides a “slippery slope” argument, I really can’t see much harm in it. Precautions would need to be taken to make sure it’s not dangerous to humans, but it would give scientists a good chance to study an animal that has been extinct for 10,000 years.
Report Post »pamela kay
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 3:04pmMEAMERICAN, yeah, and why would anyone want to do this? Opens the door to many many problems down the road. And just how would it benefit society? What purpose would it serve? Reminds me of an old commercial, “It’s Not Nice to Fool With Mother Nature!”
Report Post »wwjdwtyler
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 5:56pmPamela, what’d the difference between cloning a mammoth from thousands of years ago and cloning a newly extinct wild cat? Would you have a problem with them trying to revive a species that died recently?
Report Post »randy
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:36pmMmmmmmmm Woolly Mammoth Meat! :)
Report Post »Can’t wait to try some on the BBQ.
JRook
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:38pmWould be pretty interesting. Of course we would end up sticking them in a zoo.
Report Post »flyingcar28
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 2:54pmI am pretty sure it would not taste that good.
Report Post »Patrick Henry II
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 4:23pmBill Clinton actually ate Wolly mamoth. Seriously, this is NOT a Lewinski joke either.
Report Post »