Mammoth DNA Successfully Spliced Into Asian Elephant Cells in "Jurassic Park" Study

Scientists at Harvard University have been able to successfully splice woolly mammoth DNA into living elephant cells, providing the possibility for bringing the animal back from the dead following 3,300 years of extinction.

The scientists were able to partly replicate the genes of the woolly mammoth, which separated them from that of the elephants.

These features includes furriness, bigger ears and extra layers of fat under the skin. These were later inserted into the genetic code of an Asian elephant, since they are the closest known relatives to the woolly mammoth.

Harvard geneticist George Church has used a new technique which enables him to make specific edits to the DNA by copy pasting certain bits of genetic code.

According to the Telegraph, Church said, "We now have functioning elephant cells with mammoth DNA in them. We have not published it in a scientific journal because there is more work to do, but we plan to do so."

While we may not be seeing the woolly mammoths walking the Tundra soon, scientists believe the project goal "is not to make perfect copies of extinct woolly mammoths, but to focus on the mammoth adaptations needed for Asian elephants to live in the cold climate of the tundra".

The project which is currently being overseen by 3 teams has not however received endorsement from all quarters.

While speaking to the Independent, Dr Tori Herridge, an expert in mammoth anatomy at the Natural History Museum, said "whether or not the justifications for cloning a mammoth are worth the suffering, the concerns of keeping an elephant in captivity, experimenting on her, making her go through a 22-month pregnancy, to potentially give birth to something which won't live, or to carry something which could be damaging to her. And all of those aspects... I don't think that they are worth it; the reasons just aren't there."