Scientists plan to clone the first woolly mammoth by 2027

Experts from the biotechnology company Colossal (USA) hope to revive the population of woolly mammoths that became extinct about 10,000 years ago.

The process of editing the genes of one of the mammoths, well preserved in the permafrost of Siberia, is currently underway. The researchers are optimistic that the DNA of these animals is more than 99% identical to that of the surviving Asian elephants.

If the gene editing is successful, scientists will be able to form an embryo of a woolly mammoth, which will then be placed in the egg cell of a female elephant larger than the Asian, the African elephant. The birth of the first mammoth baby is scheduled for 2027.

The ultimate goal of the project is to revive the population of these extinct animals with subsequent resettlement in one of the Arctic regions. It is possible that the choice will fall on the place of their former habitat – Siberia.

If successful, Colossal scientists are determined to go further. The next in line for “reincarnation” could be the tilatzin, better known as the Tasmanian marsupial wolf, exterminated by humans in the 1930s.

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