Would it be possible to gain enough DNA from a wolly Mammoth, and impregnate an elephant to bring them back?

Question

I just read how they found an almost fully preserved Wolly Mammoth in Siberia, and thought it would be awsome if they could somehow reintroduce them to the wild someday.

Answer 1

First of all, it's possible that there's not enough DNA available. I know... you've got a whole creature and some in every cell, but it's been sitting there degrading for thousands of years and having it frozen certainly doesn't help at all.

Even if you can piece together and entire mammoth genome, the biggest obstacle of all is what are you going to do with all the DNA once you get it. We have learned from recent experiences with cloning that the egg cell contents are very important in producing a healthy creature from a single cell. So you might use an embryonic elephant cell, but it's quite possible that it won't have the right proteins, nutrients, and the like to produce a mammoth. And it's possible that a mammoth embryo wouldn't get the right nutrients from an elephant mom as well.

Finally, the environment is quite different now than it was 40 thousand years (or more) ago. You might have trouble keeping a wooly mammoth dinosaur alive with all the differences in temperature, food, disease, and so on.

All in all, it's not THEORETICALLY impossible - it is conceivable that we find a perfect sample of DNA somewhere in the dozens of preserved mammoth bodies we have, that there aren't any problems with producing a clone and whose environment we can replicate. In theory. But PRACTICALLY speaking... I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

Answer 2

In theory, and maybe even possibly, but there're a few moral problems:
-Wooly mammoths, to an elephant, would undoubtedly look REALLY freaky. So there's a chance of outright maternal rejection.
-There'd be only one wooly mammoth, at first. And mammoths had different behavior systems than elephants. Who would teach the mammoth how to act like a mammoth? Who would teach it how to be a herd animal? Who would play with it? Who would teach it what to eat? Some big guy wearing a rug from a 1970s TV set?

While many of these questions can be answered in part by "behavior is as heritable as genetics," that doesn't mean that elephants and mammoths behave(d) exactly the same. They went extinct for a lot of reasons, so perhaps it would be wise to focus on saving the elephants we still have.

Answer 3

i read the article you talk about and read that the major scientist in this finding stated that it's impossible because the cells in the frozen mammoth were born and they can't be reproduced... (It was the first thought they made..)
not only DNA is essential for a clone to be made till now as i know...
Anyway i don't think it's possible for an elephant to breed a mammoth. they're from the same root but i think its impossible. although there is a method of artificial precnancy

Answer 4

No, this isn't possible right now. To successfully clone something with today's technology, you need a nucleus and the DNA. The ice crystals in a frozen cell tear the nucleus apart. See http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=145 for an answer about why someone can't have their frozen cat cloned (which give a pretty good idea about why we can't clone a mammoth).

Answer 5

probably but the cells (sperm and eggs) would probably not be compatable so you would either never actually fertilize the egg, or it may get fertilized but the zygote would die before being born, or if it is lucky enough to survive, it would probably be sterile, just like a mule.

Answer 6

> Would it be possible
Not with our current technology. Ask again in about 20 years.

Answer 7

I can say with almost certainty: at this time, no.