Eli5 if Woolly Mammoths we’re perfectly preserved in ice, how come we can’t extract samples of eggs and sperm and implant them in an elephant/artificial woolly mammoth uterus
In: 7
Ever take a nice crisp vegetable and freeze it, and when you thaw it out it’s a mushy mess
Same problem.
Freezing and thawing things destroys their cellular structure.
Imagine cells as being basically tiny water-balloons. When you freeze them, the ice-crystals pierce and pop them, and when they thaw out they simply fall apart at a cellular level.
Some animals have evolved a natural anti-freeze which prevents this happening. Various species of fish, and some frogs and other amphibians will wait out winter by allowing themselves to freeze and thaw out in spring non-the-worse for wear.
The upshot is that the mammoths don’t have this ability, and if you try and retrieve their DNA, most if not all of their cells are destroyed. Good luck with that.
**However**
Despite the challenges, some DNA has actually been recovered from Mammoths, and there are multiple groups of people actively attempting to do exactly what you describe.
Current projections are that we’ll have Elephant/Mammoth hybrids being born in a few years. But I’ll believe it when I see footage of the calves..
Latest Answers