Harvard scientist working to bring woolly mammoth back from extinction

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Ice Age "woolly mammoths" might be walking the earth within two years, according to Harvard scientists behind the project.

The Telegraph reports that geneticist Professor George Church has been working on recreating the DNA blueprint for the mammoth.

They have used frozen DNA that was discovered in Arctic permafrost. By splicing the genes into the genome of an elephant embryo, the Telegraph reports the team believes that are on the way to recreating a mammoth-elephant.

“Our aim is to produce a hybrid elephant/mammoth embryo. Actually, it would be more like an elephant with a number of mammoth traits. We’re not there yet, but it could happen in a couple of years," said Church.

Woolly mammoths are extinct relatives of today’s elephants. They died following the most recent ice age, possibly from weather and food supply change.

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