Mammoth DNA Unlikely to Yield Clone

N E W   Y O R K, March 13 -- Sit in ice for 20,000 years, and the water damage, ultraviolet radiation and chemical decay will likely shatter your DNA to bits.

That makes dreams of cloning a mammoth pulled out of a chunk of Siberian ice last fall unlikely, but even in pieces, the DNA will still tell scientists much about the extinct pachyderm.

“There is a lot we can do with even bad DNA,” says Alex Greenwood, a research fellow at the American Museum of Natural History’s mammology department in New York City. Greenwood was one of the researchers who presented their views about the mammoth during a panel discussion at the museum last week.

A Sudden Disappearance

The genetic code, Greenwood said, could enable scientists to draw more detailed relationships within the elephant family tree, which is known to have originated in north Africa. It could also help identify the gender of skeletons already studied.