The legendary woolly mammoth, last seen roaming the planet at the end of the Ice Age, may soon come to life within five to six years with the help of a team of Japanese researchers.

"If a cloned embryo can be created, we need to discuss, before transplanting it into the womb, how to breed (the mammoth) and whether to display it to the public... After the mammoth is born, we will examine its ecology and genes to study why the species became extinct and other factors," said Iritani recently, according to the AFP<.

Previously, researchers had difficulty extracting DNA samples from the woolly mammoth but a few breakthroughs over the years have helped. These include the genetic mapping study coauthored by Professor Stephan Schuster of Penn State University and the nuclei-extraction technique developed by Teruhiko Wakayama from the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology.

Wakayama had developed the nuclei-extraction technique to extract DNA from a frozen mouse. The mouse had been preserved for sixteen years in the same freezing temperatures as the woolly mammoths died in. Using a Wakayama's technique, Professor Akira Iritani of Kyoto University and his team were able to extract nuclei from mammoth eggs, according to Popular Science.

Meanwhile, the genetic mapping study revealed that the woolly mammoth and elephants were genetically very similar. Since their genes only differed by 0.6 percent, the woolly mammoth could be cloned by implanting its embryo into an elephant.

The Resurrection Debate

Although cloning has excited many in the scientific community, there are still ethical issues to consider. "It could be done. The question is, just because we might be able to do it one day, should we do it?" said Professor Stephan Schuster of Penn State University professor, who coauthored the study.

As earlier mentioned in National Geographic, the act of bringing woolly mammoths back to life is still being questioned. "... The natural habitat of the mammoth no longer exists. We would be creating an animal as a theme park attraction. Is this ethical?" said paleontologist Adrian Lister.

"Even if the cloning experiment is successful, they are not reconstructing the past but rather creating a new mammoth-like creature... I am not sure that cloning a mammoth will help us significantly move forward our understanding of the animal or the conditions under which it lived," added Ice Age expert Anatoly Lozhkin.

Pleistocene Park, the real life Jurassic Park

Despite these criticisms, Iritani and his team will be forging ahead with their long term plan which includes a preserve for the mammoths in Siberia named "Pleistocene Park." The Japanese team hope that one day Pleistocene Park will also feature other extinct species brought to life, such as saber-toothed cats and woolly rhinoceroses. "This is an extension of my work for the past 20 years in trying to save endangered species," said Iritani a few years ago.

Most of the preserved mammoths have been discovered in eastern Siberia. To date, scientists are still debating whether the mammoths died from excess human predation or from climate change.

Climate Change