Scientists close in on their goal to resurrect the woolly mammoth
The woolly mammoth hasn't roamed the planet for thousands of years, but that could soon change.
A team of scientists has gotten one large step closer to resurrecting the shaggy species.
Researchers working on reversing the animal's extinction have almost fully sequenced a genome by using DNA from two Siberian specimens.
One of the animals lived about 45 thousand years ago, while the other hails from much more recent times, being around 43-hundred years old.
Between information gathered from both, the team has constructed their clearest picture to date of what made the woolly mammoth tick.
Their advancement also offers clues into what may have contributed to their demise.
Popular theories for why the animals ceased to exist include being overhunted by humans and climate change.
Though the scientists are closer than ever to realizing their de-extinction goal, the question looms as to whether they should do it or not.
One of the researchers acknowledges that there are a number of ethical matters involved.
Those include the potential that the effort could compromise conservation projects devoted to already living, yet endangered, animals.
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