A museum worker checks the hair on this woolly mammoth replica.
A museum worker checks the hair on this woolly mammoth replica.
Photogrpah by Jonathan Blair, Nat Geo Image Collection

We Could Resurrect the Woolly Mammoth. Here's How.

It's now possible to actually write DNA, which could bring an iconic Ice Age herbivore back to life.

These Ice Age herbivores, whose closest living relatives are the Asian elephant, lived on several northern continents and had a thick, furry coat that protected against the extreme cold. The shaggy animals went extinct about 4,000 years ago, but the current revolution in genetics—which is combating aging, eradicating diseases, and even allowing parents to create "designer babies"—may change that. (Read how to resurrect lost species.)

In his new book, Woolly: The True Story Of The Quest To Revive One Of History’s Most Iconic Extinct Species, Ben Mezrich goes from the laboratory to the Siberian steppe as scientists explore the possibilities of reviving the woolly mammoth to its native lands—and possibly, threatened ecosystems along with it.

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