Is it! Can ancient elephant elephants live again on earth? This is the recommendation of a group of scientists and businessmen, who have already received the US $ 15 million for the project.
Colossal Company wants to promote genetic engineering technologies for the budget to create a gap between the ancient elephant (Mammoth) and the Asian elephant, as close as possible to the ancient elephants that once inhabited our planet.
Once this goal is achieved, the next step will be to fill parts of Siberia with these animals, seeking ecological balance.
"That will make a difference in the world," said biologist George Church, from Harvard University School of Medicine in the United States, in an interview with The New York Times.
For the past eight years, the Church has spent most of its time managing the project with other members of the idea.
The earliest part of his work is the genetic material of the preserved remains of ancient elephants that died a thousand years ago.
But some oppose the idea, citing ethical problems in rescuing large animals from extinction.
There are also concerns about what these mammoths will be like on earth today.
"There are so many problems you will encounter along the way," Beth Shapiro, an archaeologist at the University of California, also told The New York Times.
Source of idea
The idea of returning woolly elephants was first introduced by Mr. Church in 2013.
At the time, researchers were studying fragments of DNA found in fossils, in an attempt to recreate the genome of extinct species.
Bw. Church, who is studying new ways to read and edit DNA, wondered: is it possible to resurrect an extinct species by reshaping the genome of society that exists today?
He considered the elephants to be the best because they are the oldest living species of Asian elephants - they have the origin of one ancient species that lived 6 million years ago.
Also, the DNA of ancient elephants can be easily found in Siberia.
A biologist explains that ancient elephants may also help to restore ecological balance: global warming has led to an increase in temperatures in the tundra (vast open plains) of Siberia and North America, which has led to the rapid release of large amounts of air of stay.
In today's Siberian tundra, much of it is covered with moss, but in ancient elephant times, there was grass.
Biologists believe that the mammoth once served as a protector of this ecosystem, maintaining grass, clearing debris, breaking down trees, and leaving plenty of feces that enriched the soil.
If these animals were to return, all of this would be available and they would produce carbon dioxide, they say.
The scientist's original ideas attracted journalists, but not investors; initially, he was able to raise only $ 100,000 for his research.
"Honestly, I intended to work at a slower pace," Church said.
But in 2019 he met Ben Lamm, founder of Texas technology company, AI Hypergiant. Reading the news about the project, he was impressed to help save the giant beast.
“After spending a day in the laboratory and spending a lot of time with George, we were very happy,” recalls Lamm, who from then on began to form a large company.
Lost animals can be revived in two ways: genetic engineering and engineering, namely, the process of using DNA technology to change the genetic makeup of an organism.
The first method is best known from the Dolly sheep model, created in 1997. In this process, the DNA of one animal is inserted into a fertilized egg of another animal and then the egg is implanted in the "mother intended to give birth." (Surrogate)
Three years after disappearing from the Earth's surface, the preserved skin of an animal was released and its DNA was created. A pregnant goat gave birth to a baby goat, the first to be resurrected or the extinct species.
Unfortunately, it was also the first case of a double disappearance, as it only lasted for 7 minutes.
This is where the second method of recovery can help, the so-called CRISPR gene-editing technology.
In it, special genes that allowed mammoths to live in high latitudes are inserted into the genome of their closest relative, the Asian elephant.
The modified genome is then implanted into a fertilized elephant egg, which is implanted in the mother who gave birth to the elephant. From there, a hybrid of elephant and mammoth is expected to be born.
In fact, there is a serious problem, such as the fact that scientists do not know what genes are needed to survive in the Arctic.
They know that an animal must be covered with fur, with a round skull and a thin layer of skin oil.
Currently, nearly a million species of plants and animals are at risk of extinction.
