Woolly mammoths which lived during the last ice age are now extinct. The relatives of today's elephants may have died off when the weather became unadaptable for them and their food supply changed. But scientist George Church from the Harvard University says that a cloning project can bring them back to life. The man claims to be able to grow a baby mammoth in a lab!

For the same, his team of Harvard scientists have been using DNA from a woolly mammoth preserved in ice in Siberia. It was recovered after dying 42,000 years ago. The scientists are of the opinion that merging genes from the mammals with that of elephants, the woolly mammoths may be resurrected.

While the word 'mammoth' has become synonymous to huge, woolly mammoths were probably about the size of African elephants. They had smaller ears than those of today's elephants. They had about 5 meter long tusks which were used for fighting and digging in the deep snow.

The team is planning to publish scientific papers with details of the cloning. Prof Church said he wants to grow a hybrid woolly mammoth/elephant within an artificial womb than using a female elephant as a surrogate mum. The whole process is estimated to take at least 22 months.

The prof believes that the woolly mammoths will save the world once they start plodding in the Arctic. The mammoths are believed to create an environment which could stop Siberia's permafrost melting and then releasing billions of tons of greenhouse gases.

If the situation continues, the doomsday which is nearing known as 'methane bomb' could worsen climate change drastically. It can result in melting of the ice cap and flooding in countries across the world. Bubbles have already started building up in different parts in Siberia in which methane is building up. Some have also spewed out toxic gas causing major damage to the atmosphere.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 17, 2018 12:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).