Columbian mammoth skeleton
Credit: AFP
Last month, a group of scientists from the Sakha Republic's mammoth museum in Russia and the Kinki University in Japan finally announced the launch of a project we've been hearing about for years - an attempt to resurrect a woolly mammoth using cloning technology.
While it might seem like quite a stretch, the team is confident that one of these extinct pachyderms will be brought back to life by 2017, so what better opportunity to wallow in all things mammoth? This week we interview mammoth experts, investigate extinction theories, ponder the possibility of living alongside mammoths once again and explore the variety of species, from the demure pygmy mammoth to the colossal Columbian mammoth.
But first up, here's a collection of mammoth articles from Cosmos Online that sees them unearthed, auctioned and potentially cloned, amid investigations into whether or not humans are to blame for their ultimate demise.
With scientists attempting to resurrect the woolly mammoth within the next five years, it's time to get familiar with this formidable prehistoric pachyderm.
Mammoths are one of the largest known mammal species to ever inhabit the Earth, and have been found on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Here's an overview of all the species that have so far been discovered.
Risky behaviour by adolescent Columbian mammoths proved fatal, causing them to slip into the deadly hot springs of South Dakota.
Should we resurrect the woolly mammoth?
Intern Renae looks at the advantages and disadvantages of bringing the extinct woolly mammoth back to life.
Alan Cooper has spent his career using DNA to investigate the evolutionary mysteries that have left others puzzled, such as how mammoths survived in such frigid environments.
Evolutionary biologist Jeremy Austin studies ancient DNA to answer the big questions.
As part of COSMOS' Mammoth Week, Jenna searches for the best movies that involve mammoths.
From the archives
Mammoth could be resurrected in five years
A project to resurrect the long-extinct mammoth has been launched by Japanese researchers using cloning technology to bring the ancient pachyderm back to life in around five years time.
One day we may again hear the roar of a woolly mammoth as it is brought down by a group of Neanderthal hunters, as scientists race to resurrect long dead animals with modern cloning technology. By Jacqui Hayes.
Columbian mammoth unearthed in fossil trove
After three years' backbreaking work, archaeologists finally revealed the face of Zed the Ice Age mammoth, unearthed in the so-called La Brea Tar Pits, one of the world's most famous fossil sites. By Michael Thurston.
Global warming caused by mammoth extinction
Even as far back as 15,000 years, humans may have had a hand in global warming, say scientists, suggesting that ancient hunters may have hastened the extinction of mammoths. By Holly Hight
New woolly rhino rewrites Ice Age mammal history
The fossilised remains of a new species of woolly rhino was unearthed in the Himalayan Mountains of Tibet and could provide important clues to the evolution of Ice Age giants. By Catherine de Lange.
Man not guilty of killing off Ice Age giants
Humans are off the hook, it seems, for the extermination of large Ice Age mammals including mammoths, a new study suggested. By Anthony King.
The cloning king, the mafia and the mammoth
In 2006, the disgraced South Korean cloning expert who worked on a project to resurrect the mammoth was famously put on trial for fraud and fake research, insisting that he could prove he created the first cloned human stem cells. by Park Chan-Kyong.
The skeleton of 15,000-year-old Siberian mammoth went under the hammer yesterday for 260,000 euros (US$352,000) at a rare and crowded Paris palaeontology sale.
