Woolly Mammoth Could Soon Be Resurrected

Hwang Woo-Suk, the man who faked human stem cell research, is involved

(NEWSER) - The woolly mammoth may be on the comeback trail, thanks to a deal signed today between prominent Russian and South Korean scientists to collaborate on efforts to clone the extinct prehistoric beast. Vasily Vasiliev, of the North-Eastern Federal University of the Sakha Republic, forged the pact with controversial cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk—who you might remember as the guy who faked the cloning of a human egg, the AFP reports. More»

(NEWSER) - A nearly perfectly preserved 37,000-year-old baby mammoth is giving up tantalizing secrets about her species, scientists report. The creature, dubbed Lyuba by researchers, still sports clumps of hair and eyelashes, according to the Telegraph. Scientists have been able to examine stomach contents and the mineral makeup of the bones and teeth in the animal, found 2 years ago by reindeer herders in Siberia. More»

Adult mammoth the size of modern-day baby elephant

(NEWSER) - A "mini-mammoth" the size of a baby elephant has been identified on the island of Crete. Mammuthus creticus is the tiniest mammoth ever found, and is another example of "dwarfism" on islands, where scare resources can keep animals small, notes the Telegraph . Fossilized teeth of the three-foot-tall mammoth were first discovered in 1904, but were initially believed to be elephant teeth. Scientists only recently re-examined them and determined they were evidence of a miniature mammoth. They also returned to the spot in Crete and discovered a mini leg bone. More»

Fossil suggests they stole prey from lions, say scientists

(NEWSER) - Prehistoric humans may have sliced up woolly mammoths for dinner after stealing them from lions. Markings on a mammoth fossil show evidence of both human and lion involvement, reports the BBC . Researchers examined an "exquisitely preserved" carcass of a young woolly mammoth that still has its teeth, tusks, and strawberry blonde hair. The ancient animal, nicknamed Yuka, was frozen in a Siberian ice cliff for about 10,000 years. More»

Arctic plant found by Russian scientists may be oldest ever revived

(NEWSER) - A flower that last bloomed when saber-toothed cats roamed the Earth is once again alive and growing. Russian scientists say they've dug up remnants of a 32,000-year-old plant from Siberia's frozen wasteland and successfully cloned 36 more of them from its fruit tissue, the New York Times reports. Now comes the next stage: convincing a somewhat skeptical scientific community that the plant—by far the oldest ever revived—really dates back that far. More»