DNA from a worm in Siberian Permafrost Wriggle to Life –Why Not the Ice-age Horse as Well?

Image courtesy of Bob Goldstein, UNC Chapel Hill , CC BY-SA 3.





Joel Kontinen

In May, scientists said that they had brought an arctic nematode to life. They are small, about 1 millimeter in length. Some are them are found living 1.3 kilometres (0.8 miles below Earth's surface, "deeper than any other multicellular animal".

Image courtesy of Michil Yakovlev/SVFU/The Siberian Times.


Then, why not the ice age foal? Found in last month, from a 100-meters (328-foot) deep Batagaika crater. The horse was 98 centimetres (39 inches) tall. “Its mummified remains were so well-preserved by icy conditions that the skin, the hooves, the tail, and even the tiny hairs in the animal's nostrils and around its hooves are still visible.”

Some scientist are interested. Among them is Woo-Suk Hwang, a stem-cell researcher and cloning pioneer South Korea. They " are already collaborating in an attempt to clone a woolly mammoth."

Others are not so optimistic. However, Dna has already been excavated from dinosaur bone.


Sources:

Weisberger, Mindy. Siberian, 2018. Worms Frozen for 42,000 Years in Siberian Permafrost Wriggle to Life. Live Science ( July 27).

Weisberger, Mindy. 2018. This Plan to Bring Back an Extinct Ice-Age Horse Species Is an extreme Long Shot, Scientists Say. Live Science (6 September).