Woolly mammoth to be brought back within five years

Scientists have claimed that within five years the extinct woolly mammoth could be brought back to life from DNA found in the bone marrow of the species.

A team from Russia's Sakha Republic's mammoth museum and Kinki University in Japan says that the recent discovery of well-preserved marrow inside the thigh bone of a woolly mammoth in Siberia has raised its hope that the species could be cloned.

The scientists are now gearing up to launch joint research next year aiming to recreate the giant mammal.

By replacing the nuclei of egg cells from an elephant with those taken from the mammoth's marrow cells, embryos with mammoth DNA can be produced, apparently.

They will then plant the embryos into elephant wombs for delivery as the two species are close relatives. Securing nuclei with an undamaged gene is essential for the nucleus transplantation technique.

Mammoths became extinct about 10,000 years ago.