Scientists have been working together to bring back the Wooly Mammoth. The technology that would make this possible is called CRISPR/ Cas 9 gene splicing system. CRISPR allows individual genes that code for specific characteristics into genes of living creatures. They would combine the Wooly Mammoth’s genes with the genes of the Asian elephant, which is the Mammoth’s closest living relatives. You are not actually cloning the Wooly Mammoth, but you take a sample from the frozen carcass and sequence it. The genome of the mammoth is 99% similar to the genome of the Asian elephant. You place the genes into the embryo of an Asian elephant and put the embryo back into the elephant, and then the elephant will birth a Wooly Mammoth.
Scientists believe that bringing the mammoth back to life could help the environment. Some scientists think that bringing back wooly mammoths could help with climate change. Scientists have tested a part of the tundra where they placed a Russian tank to mimic the mammoth and the temperature of the permafrost lowered at least 15 degrees. These large herbivores encourage growth of steppe grass, which reflect sunlight back into the atmosphere like a mirror. The mammoths would graze on the grass in the tundra and expose the earth underneath to cold air, which would keep it frozen longer.
Some disadvantages of bringing back the wooly mammoth would be that the ecosystem has changed since the mammoth went extinct, and what if it could not adapt to the changes that have occurred since they went extinct? Also, animals today are struggling with the impact of humans so instead of bringing in a new animal we should focus on the animals already here. If we brought them back, then they would probably be kept locked u for us humans to study and test on.
I guess this could be done for other species if you could determine their genome sequence and be able to get a sample of their DNA, and also there would have to be a species still living with a very similar genome so that the animal could be birthed and sustain life.
Gullion, H. (2019, October 15). 4 Reasons Why We Should Not Bring Back The Woolly Mammoth. Retrieved from https://www.theodysseyonline.com/why-we-should-not-bring-back-the-woolly-mammoth
Pruitt, S. (2019, January 22). Are Scientists on the Verge of Resurrecting the Woolly Mammoth? Retrieved from https://www.history.com/news/wooly-mammoth-resurrection-cloning-genesis
Worrall, S. (2017, July 9). We Could Resurrect the Woolly Mammoth. Here's How. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/07/woolly-mammoths-extinction-cloning-genetics/#close