Scientists ‘confident’ of cloning extinct horse species from 42,000-year-old foal
The foal - no more than two weeks old when it died - was preserved in near perfect condition for 42,170 years
SCIENTISTS are "confident of success" in extracting cells from a 42,000 year old extinct foal in order to clone its species back to life.
They see the "Jurassic Park" attempt to restore the long-gone Lenskaya breed of horse as paving the way for later success in returning the giant woolly mammoth.
The light ginger-coloured foal - no more than two weeks old when it died - was preserved in near perfect condition in Siberian permafrost for 42,170 years, say experts.
After several months of intense work on the frozen baby horse, a joint Russian-South Korean research team are growing optimistic that they will obtain the cells needed to attempt to clone the extinct cold-resistant Lenskaya breed which died out some 4,000 years ago.
“Researchers are confident of success of the project,” said a source at the North East Federal University in Yakutsk - the world’s coldest city - which is hosting the work, reported .
“The attempts will continue until the end of April this year.”
These are the first pictures showing the pioneering work to extract cells for the foal cloning attempt.
Work is so advanced that the team is reportedly choosing a mother for the historic role of giving birth to the ancient horse.
Hopefully, the world will soon meet the clone of the ancient foal who lived 42,000 years ago.
Michil Yakovlev
The international research team is led by South Korean cloning expert Professor Hwang Woo-suk, who is also closely involved in efforts to use remains of woolly mammoths preserved in permafrost bring the giants back to life.
Dr Lena Grigoryeva, a leading Russian researcher on the project, said: “There are seven researchers involved in the (foal) project on the Korean side and everyone is positive about the outcome.”
She said the first cloning attempt is likely to use a Korean horse as a surrogate mother.
“The Korean horse will fit in perfectly,” she said.
“They have been used in cloning for a while and the technology is mastered to perfection.
“Besides, the Korean horse is quite ancient too.
“It is a successor of Mongolian horse.”
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Michil Yakovlev, editor of the university’s corporate media, said: “Hopefully, the world will soon meet the clone of the ancient foal who lived 42,000 years ago.”
Another option is to use the Yakut horse - a breed native to eastern Siberia which succeeded the Lenskaya species.
Yakut horses can survive winters with temperatures as low as minus 60C.
Dr Semyon Grigoryev, leading researcher at the Mammoth Museum in Yakutsk, previously said: “Fortunately, the animal's muscle tissues were undamaged and well preserved, so we managed to get samples of this unique find for biotechnology research.”
