ALBAWABA - A both shocking and controversial move by an American company has started a debate as their plans to genetically revive mammoths came to light, as per The Washington Post.
Colossal Biosciences, a biotechnology firm from Dallas, revealed their development of Asian elephant stem cells that may pave the way to create the extinct behemoth or at least closely resembling mammoth-elephant hybrid on Earth yet again.
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Advocates of species revival view this as a means to fix some of the human involvement in the ongoing animal extinction crisis. They believe advancements in genetic technology could also benefit currently endangered species, such as elephants.
However, many challenges stand in the way of bringing a living mammoth into existence in the present time. Many ethical questions surround the project, concerning decisions on species resurrection, habitat provisions for revived animals, allocation of project funding, and the potential impacts this has on animal welfare.
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The mammoths were widespread during the Ice Age across Eurasia and North America until they faced extinction 4000 years ago, yet somehow glimpses and remains of them are still found ice-preserved. Researchers took DNA sequencing of preserved mammoth samples to unlock the genetic code important and needed if someone was to try and revive them.
While successful in creating stem cells for various creatures, generating mammoth stem cells with specific cold-climate attributes remained hard due to their resistance to cancer.
The company aims to modify stem cell nuclei with mammoth genes and merge them into elephant eggs, to then take those eggs and implant the embryo into an elephant surrogate to achieve a mammoth rebirth.
