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In a couple of years, we could see the rebirth of mammoths
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
Harvard scientists will be able to create an animal that is a hybrid of a mammoth and an elephant – and this will happen within the next two years.
Mammoths completely disappeared from our planet about four thousand years ago. However, only now scientists are talking about the fact that they are very close to the possibility of reviving the ancient animal - albeit in the form of a product of genetic engineering, a hybrid of a mammoth and an elephant.
Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston, scientists representing Harvard University said they only need about two years to finally create a hybrid animal based on a mammoth and an Asian elephant that will have all the main characteristics of the ancient mammoth.
The resulting animal has already been dubbed a "mammophant" - a kind of elephant, but with small ears, a small subcutaneous fat layer and longer, shaggy fur. DNA samples found frozen for millennia in the ice of Siberia will be used to recreate it.
Now a team of scientists is working on creating embryos, although this project was launched back in 2015. Since then, specialists have increased the number of “edits” to embryogenesis, and now they are working in a specific direction.
Dr Matthew Cobb, a zoologist at the University of Manchester, doubts the feasibility of such an experiment: "It is not known what will happen after the birth of such a mammoth hybrid, and how the elephants we are used to will react to it."
It is very difficult to revive an animal that existed so long ago. At the same time, mammoths are the best "candidates" for revival. Moreover, their closest "relatives" are perfectly preserved in our time - elephants.
Despite the fact that there is currently not enough suitable genetic material, scientists do not abandon their idea. Of course, over the years, a huge number of remains of ancient animals have been found, but almost all DNA samples were damaged by the permafrost.
Perhaps, due to a lack of suitable DNA, genetic modification of the elephant genome will be used, with the replacement of a certain number of genes. The result should be a creature that, perhaps, will not have all the external characteristics of the extinct mammoth, but will be as close to it as possible.
The recreated genome (the totality of genetic material) will be implanted into an elephant embryo, which, in turn, will be placed into the cavity of an artificially created uterus.
Research specialists hope that the evolution of technologies in two years will allow them to implement their plans, since today it is not possible to fully implement these processes. Scientists are not without optimism: according to their forecasts, in a few years we will be able to see not only a real mammoth, but also a diverse park of ancient animals.
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