Mammoths may roam again after 27,000 years

Times Online (UK) ^ | August 15, 2006 | Mark Henderson

[annie laurie]

BODIES of extinct Ice Age mammals, such as woolly mammoths, that have been frozen in permafrost for thousands of years may contain viable sperm that could be used to bring them back from the dead, scientists said yesterday.

Research has indicated that mammalian sperm can survive being frozen for much longer than was previously thought, suggesting that it could potentially be recovered from species that have died out.

Several well-preserved mammoth carcasses have been found in the permafrost of Siberia, and scientists estimate that there could be millions more.

Last year a Canadian team demonstrated that it was possible to extract DNA from the specimens, and announced the sequencing of about 1 per cent of the genome of a mammoth that died about 27,000 years ago.

With access to the mammoth’s genetic code, and with frozen sperm recovered from testes, it may be possible to resurrect an animal that is very similar to a mammoth.

The mammoth is a close genetic cousin of the modern Asian elephant, and scientists think that the two may be capable of interbreeding.

The frozen mammoth sperm could be injected into elephant eggs, producing offspring that would be 50 per cent mammoth.

The suggestion that it may be possible to recreate an animal that is at least part-mammoth has emerged from a study of mice by Japanese, British and American scientists.

While many types of mammalian sperm, including that of humans, can be preserved by freezing, mouse sperm is vulnerable to damage that can limit its ability to fertilise eggs when it is thawed.

A team led by Narumi Ogonuki of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research Bioresource Centre in Tsukuba, central Japan, has demonstrated that sperm better survives freezing if testes, or whole mouse bodies, are frozen.

Even sperm taken from mouse bodies that had been frozen 15 years ago was capable of fertilising mouse eggs and producing pups, the researchers found.

The work has technical implications for the breeding of laboratory mice for medical research, but it also shows in principle that mammalian sperm can survive in a body that has been frozen for several years.

This could mean that it is able to survive in similar fashion over much longer periods, as in mammoths frozen in permafrost.

“Restoration of extinct species could be possible if male individuals are found in permafrost,” Dr Ogonuki said.

“If sperm of extinct mammalian species, for example the woolly mammoth, can be retrieved from animal bodies that were kept frozen for millions of years in permanent frost, live animals might be restored by injecting them into oocytes [eggs] from females of closely related species.”

[annie laurie]

You're a bit late to the party, friend ;-)

See posts 14 and 18.

[SunkenCiv]

S'okay, we collect 'em and trade 'em. ;')

[annie laurie]

S'okay, we collect 'em and trade 'em. ;')

Best line of the night, hands down! (And NO rimshot! :))

I'm still laughing as I type this :)

[SoCal Pubbie]

Pygmy mammoths lived on the channel islands of California as recently s 5,000 years ago. I would LOVE to see a mammoth roaming the earth again.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks annie, just adding to the catalog, not pingin' the list. Thanks for the kind remarks!

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[Luke Skyfreeper]

Mammoths were almost completely herbivores; however I'm pretty sure I read that on the channel islands of California, the pygmy mammoths also ate jumbo shrimp.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Are you one of those dreaded paleo comics Pat Buchanan is always warning us about?

[Tim Long]

And after 27,000 years no less!

Either you forgot to put a (sarc) tag, or you're going Hugh Ross-soft on us. :)

Unrelated to this, but do you know of anything in the Bible that indicates that extinct animals will return in the Millennium, Dave? The KJV mentions dragons in Isaiah, but the more literal NASB renders it "jackals."

[whispering out loud]

lol, I've been trying to say the very thing for a long time now, I have as yet to see a "dating method" that I consider to have actually been proved accurate for "tens of thousands of years" I still haven't seen these ten thousand or million year old constants. But when I ask this very question, my knowledge, and comprehension of science, as well as my intelligence come under attack.

[SunkenCiv]

Mammoths may roam again after 27,000 years
Times Online (U.K.) | 08/15/2006 | Mark Henderson
Posted on 08/15/2006 12:17:59 AM EDT by peyton randolph
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1683793/posts