Yokohama - Woolly mammoth could regenerate species
July 14, 2013, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
WITH its matted hair and bald patches, it resembles a much-loved toy somewhat past its prime.In fact, this creature is the best-preserved specimen of a woolly mammoth ever found - one whose prehistoric prime was 39,000 years ago.
Even clumps of the animal's distinguishing hair are remarkably intact after being trapped in glacial ice until she was discovered in Siberia earlier this year.
She is now on public display in Yokohama until September 16.
But while the public can get a remarkable glimpse of our planet's past, scientists will be continuing tests that could give the extinct species a future.
Experts who found the female mammoth in May also discovered a sample of its blood inside ice beneath the carcass -- which scientists claim may be used to regrow one of the animals, which last walked the earth around 4,000 years ago.
It is the first well-preserved sample of blood from a woolly mammoth and has reopened the debate over the morality of Jurassic Park-style projects to restore extinct creatures.
Even clumps of the animal's distinguishing hair are remarkably intact after being trapped in glacial ice until she was discovered in Siberia earlier this year.
She is now on public display in Yokohama until September 16.
But while the public can get a remarkable glimpse of our planet's past, scientists will be continuing tests that could give the extinct species a future.
Experts who found the female mammoth in May also discovered a sample of its blood inside ice beneath the carcass -- which scientists claim may be used to regrow one of the animals, which last walked the earth around 4,000 years ago.
It is the first well-preserved sample of blood from a woolly mammoth and has reopened the debate over the morality of Jurassic Park-style projects to restore extinct creatures.
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