Currently, the process of editing the genes of one of the mammoths well preserved in the permafrost of Siberia is underway. The fact that the DNA of these animals is more than 99 percent identical to the DNA of currently living Asian elephants raises the researchers’ optimism. If the gene editing is successful, the scientists will be able to create a woolly mammoth embryo that will later be placed in the egg of a larger (compared to Asian) female African elephant. The birth of the first mammoth cub is scheduled for 2027.

“Bringing back the woolly mammoth means bringing back a better Earth”

The ultimate goal of the project is to revive the population of these extinct animals and then reintroduce them to one of the Arctic regions. It is possible that the choice will fall on the former place of residence.

This should have a positive impact on the planet’s climate. The fact is that the extinction of the mammoth required gradual changes in the entire ecosystem, which at that time was the largest in the world. The mammoth steppes from France to Canada and from the Arctic islands to China were home to millions of these great herbivores. They were key to preserving an ecosystem as large as it affected, if not nearly controlled, the climate.

The mammoth steppe covered a large area / Giant Photo

Loss of cold-hardy great mammoths over the last 10,000 years deprived this grassland ecosystem of what were once productive carbon sinks. Instead, there are moss-grown forests and swamps that are no longer helping so effectively in the fight against rising temperatures. However, if the Mammoth Steppe ecosystem can be revived, it could help stop rapid climate warming and, more importantly, protect the Arctic permafrost, one of the world’s largest carbon reservoirs at risk of being released into the atmosphere.

• Restoring a grassland ecosystem will help create a cycle that prevents the thawing and release of greenhouse gases stored in Arctic permafrost..
• The cold-resistant elephant and mammoth hybrids, which graze on pastures and move freely in winter, scrape the snow layers so that the cold air can reach the ground.
• It also promotes the development of grasslands and snow melts more slowly because they are lighter than forests.
• All this also makes room for another advantage – a surface that reflects solar radiation and cools the planet.

If successful, the scientists at Colossal are determined to continue. Next up for “reincarnation” might be thylacine, better known as the Tasmanian marsupial wolf, which was destroyed by humans in the 1930s.