No, you’re not watching a rerun of Jurassic Park…this is real. Scientists believe they will be able to clone a extinct species from a baby horse that died 42,000 years ago in Siberia. The body was pulled from a frozen excavation site last year and Russian, South Korean scientists have pulled uncompromised genetic material from the carcass.
The light ginger-coloured foal from 42,170 years ago died when it was just one or two weeks old but it could lead to a giant leap for ‘Jurassic Park’ technology. The baby horse was preserved in near perfect condition, reported The Siberian Times.
The cell-extracting work is being undertaken by scientists who also have the goal of one day restoring the extinct woolly mammoth. After several months of intense work on the foal in Yakutsk, researchers are growing optimistic that they will obtain the cells needed to clone the long-gone cold-resistant Lenskaya horse.
‘Researchers are confident of success of the project,’ said a source at the North East Federal University which is hosting the work. ‘The attempts will continue until the end of April this year.’
You can read more about the project here in the Siberian Times.
