The Possibility of the Return of Woolly Mammoths

The woolly mammoth species went extinct four thousand years ago. However, scientists now say that using genetic engineering methods, they may succeed in reviving this ancient creature. According to The Guardian, a scientific team at Harvard University, which is working to resurrect extinct animals through reverse engineering, is only two years away from creating an embryo that possesses the characteristics of a woolly mammoth and is set to grow in the womb of an Asian elephant. Dr. George Church, one of the scientists involved in this project, states: "Our goal is to create a mammoth-elephant embryo. Of course, it will resemble an elephant more, but it will also have some mammoth traits." The specific characteristics of the mammoth that this creature will have include small ears, a thick layer of fat under the skin, long shaggy hair, and blood that is adapted to cold regions. So far, scientists have succeeded in creating cells of this creature. The next step is to create the embryo. However, they say there is still a long way to go and many years left before creating a living being in this way. Since the start of this project in 2015, researchers have increased the number of genetic modifications that account for the differences between elephants and mammoths, and the number of these changes has now risen from 15 to 45. Dr. Church mentions that changes such as small ears or subcutaneous fat have become possible because they were able to identify the relevant genes and reconstruct them in elephant cells through genetic reverse engineering. According to NBC News, although the dual embryo was initially supposed to grow in the body of a female Asian elephant, due to the fact that this species is also at risk of extinction, Dr. Church and his team will use an artificial womb. While Dr. Church and his team believe that genetic manipulation methods can help save and preserve the species of endangered animals, such as the Asian elephant, such efforts also raise ethical concerns. Dr. Matthew Cobb from the University of Manchester believes that mammoths are not just a series of genes. "They were social creatures, like modern elephants. What happens when a mammoth-elephant is born? Will elephants accept it?" Another concern raised by Cobb is that if this creature grows in an artificial womb and is born, it will miss out on all the prenatal interactions that any fetus has with its mother. Woolly mammoths lived in the late Ice Age in areas now known as Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. Scientists believe that climate change and the warming of the Earth after the Ice Age, as well as their hunting by early humans, led to their extinction.