This Monday, the researchers working on this project collected bone tissue samples from a mammoth corpse found in 2013

Mar 17, 2015 07:56 GMT  ·  By

A couple of years back, in May 2013, the frozen corpse of a woolly mammoth was recovered from the Siberian permafrost. This Monday, a team of researchers butchered it and extracted bone tissue samples from one of the animal's legs.

The plan is to use the bone tissue samples to try and put together the woolly mammoth's genetic profile. Once they know what this species' DNA looked like, scientists hope that they will be able to recreate it in the lab. Yup, they want to try and clone woolly mammoths.

A lucky find

The mammoth that produced the bone samples researchers expect will make it possible to resurrect this extinct species was partly buried in the Siberian permafrost when specialists first laid eyes on it.

The tusks were sticking out of the ground while the lower part of its body was encased in ice. As for the torso, it was separated from the rest of the body. Scientists believe that the creature died while desperately trying to escape predators.

Thus, they say that the animal likely became trapped in a peat bog while running away from something. Whatever this something was, it looks like it eventually reached the woolly mammoth and ate it alive.

The carcass is estimated to be about 28,000 to 40,000 years old. It belongs to a female around the age of 50, maybe 60. Unlike other woolly mammoth corpses discovered over the years, it is in very good condition, researchers say.

In fact, word has it that, when they pulled the animal's remains from the ground, scientists even found blood trapped and preserved over the millennia in ice cavities under the carcass.

Cloning a woolly mammoth

The bone tissue samples recovered from the woolly mammoth corpse are to be studied by both specialists in Russia and South Korean researchers, and will be subjected to intensive DNA analysis.

“Part of the samples will be studied here in in Yakutsk, the other part will be studied abroad. Here we will only extract DNA while the sequencing, as in decoding the sequence of the DNA chain, will be done by our Korean partners,” said researcher Semyon Grigoriev, as cited by The Siberian Times.

Having extracted DNA from the samples and having sequenced it, the scientists will try to recreate the creature's genetic profile. If successful, they will move on to attempting to clone the animal.

The corpse was found in May 2013, is very well preserved
The corpse was found in May 2013, is very well preserved

Photo Gallery (2 Images)

Woolly mammoths could soon walk among us
The corpse was found in May 2013, is very well preserved
Open gallery