As strange as it may seem, the screenwriters for the blockbuster movie Jurassic Park had it right. In the movie, they harvested the DNA of a dinosaur from the blood sucked up by a Jurassic mosquito. The mosquito was stored in hardened amber for millions of years. They then took the DNA and inserted it into the embryo of a modern age frog. When the frog gave birth, it gave birth to a dino. Well... a dino egg that is.
Much in the same fashion, scientists in Japan at the Kyoto University have the same plans. Basically.
They are harvesting the DNA from a mammoth and plan to bring the big hairy guy back! It might seem a bit far-fetched and a bit sci-fi, but it can actually be done. Or at least they think it can. If you consider that scientists have successfully cloned sheep and other animals at this point, being that the mammoth idea works on the exact same principles.. this is entirely possible.
The mammoth cells were harvested from some frozen mammoth skin that has been stored in a Russian mammoth research facility. They have been studying the eating, living and mating habits of the mammoth for years and are considered experts in the field. So for them to be able to look forward to this has just been an amazing trip for them.
What others are considering however are the ethical and moral repercussions of the whole thing. If they can bring back a mammoth, and this actually works.. what next? Some people are worried about possibilities of these types of things "polluting" the rest of the world should a "wild" DNA changed embryo get loose. Or the possibility of some sort of mistake go wrong.. according to those opposed to this there are tons of reasons for this not to move forward.
However the chance for science to study these creatures with the use of modern tools and technologies is just too good to pass up. This is one of the major reasons for this to take place, and the scientists in charge are going to do everything in their power to make sure it happens.
According to scientists at the Kyoto University this should all take place in about 5-6 years time. So not too far out we could be reading about the first mammoth in millions of years walking around the grounds of a large caged in enclosure somewhere in Japan surrounded by scientists just waiting for their chance to poke it with a needle.
