-
Asked by ryanoliver9 to Thanasis, Sandra, Norman, Nicola, Laura on 13 Mar 2013.
-
Laura Soul answered on 13 Mar 2013:
That’s a really interesting question. I think that one day they probably will be able to get it to work but it might take a while. The good thing is that we already have all the information we need to make mammoth DNA. The problem with cloning is that even though we can do it there are lots of unexpected things that happen to the clones and we don’t understand why yet. Some of them get old too quickly, or are more likely to get diseases, things like that. Until we can figure out why those sorts of things happen I think cloning will be very hard.
It will probably be hard to make the mammoth DNA, even though we know what its structure should be. Also having it grow inside an Elephant might not work, we just don’t know yet!
I do think that one day quite soon it could work though, unlike dinosaurs, sadly I don’t think that we will be able to use cloning to make dinosaurs like they did in Jurassic Park 🙁 I wish we could, I’d really like a pet dino, although a pet mammoth would be pretty cool too.
-
-
Norman Lazarus answered on 13 Mar 2013:
Wouldn’t that be cool! I think I am correct when I say only mammoth mitochondrial DNA has been investigated. This is not the same as the DNA we all know and love. Now if a live cell could be found then maybe there would be a little glimmer of hope. No more than that. And one cell would only produce one sex. Not much use! Anyway who knows if an elephant is the correct environment for a mammoth. In short, do not hold your breath.
-
Nicola Wardrop answered on 13 Mar 2013:
That would be amazing – if we could clone a mammoth, then we would also be able to clone other animals which have been extinct for a long time – like dinosaurs!
I think the technology is advancing a lot, so perhaps one day it might be possible, but at the moment I don’t think we really know enough to make it work. Like Norman said, I won’t be holding my breath for it!
Comments