Scientists Find Extremely Well Preserved Mammoth, Seeking to Clone Like ‘Jurassic Park’
A Siberian expedition finds a well-preserved woolly mammoth. When scientists investigate, blood comes running out, lending hope to an ambitious cloning project.
A paleontological expedition from the Research Institute of Applied Ecology of the North, and the Russian Geographical Society discovered a female mammoth in a remarkably good state of preservation in the Novosibirsk archipelago in Siberia. North-Eastern Federal University has partnered with controversial South Korean cloning scientist Hwang Woo-Suk for a mammoth-cloning effort.
“The fragments of muscle tissues, which we’ve found out of the body, have a natural red color of fresh meat,” says expedition leader Semyon Grigoriev. “The reason for such preservationis that the lower part of the body was underlying in pure ice, and the upper part was found in the middle of tundra.”
The scientists gathered blood samples for testing, which turned out to be a fairly simple process. “The blood is very dark, it was found in ice cavities bellow the belly and when we broke these cavities with a poll pick, the blood came running out,” Grigoriev says.
Depending on your field of study, this fascinating discovery will mean different things. Paleontologists, are hoping to learn more about how woolly mammoths lived in the post ice-aged earth- While Scientists in the bio cloning fields are lining up to get their hands on some of the blood and tissue. You already know what I’m thinking …”Welcome to Jurassic Park?”
Via CNET
