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Based on these advancements in cloning there are two ways that a mammoth can be resurrected. The first way would be through in-vitro fertilization from frozen sperm. The process would include isolating a viable sperm cell from a frozen mammoth and fertilizing an elephant egg with the sperm. The fertilized egg would then be implanted into a female elephant and a genetic hybrid, half mammoth and half elephant, would be born. After various hybrids are created, they would mate together over generations until a pure mammoth lineage is created (National Geographic). However, it’s unlikely that this technique would be used to bring back a mammoth. Science supports this technique since Dr. Goto created a calf from frozen bull semen and a cow egg in 1898, but the problem is that the mammoth sperm is not readily available (Stone, 2001, 47). Most intact mammoths that have been discovered have either been gutted by humans for their organs or are premature.

 

A graphic illustrating how mammoths would be made from in vitro fertilization of frozen sperm. From National Geographic's Interactive

           

The other way would be to genetically clone a mammoth from a frozen cell. From this ancient mammoth cell, scientists would isolate the nucleus and insert into an egg of an elephant that has had its nucleus removed. The cell would then be chemically or electrically stimulated to begin dividing and placed in the uterus of an elephant. A baby mammoth would then be born (National Geographic). This process would be the best for resurrecting a mammoth, especially since it accounts for the problem that a completely intact mammoth nucleus might be difficult to find. One solution to this problem would be to use genetic engineering to building mammoth DNA, organize it into chromosomes, and enclose them in an artificial nuclear membrane. The other solution would be to modify the elephant genome at the 400,000 locations that differ from the mammoth genome. A skin cell from an elephant would then be reprogrammed to become an embryonic cell and the modified genome would be injected into the embryonic cell (National Geographic Interactive). The technique of genetically cloning is also supported by past experiments in cloning; it was the way that Dolly the sheep was cloned.

 

An illustration demonstrating how to create a mammoth from nuclear transfer. From National Geographic's Interactive

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.