ICE AGE WOLVES

Recently unearthed were fossil remains of an extinct wolf species, northwest of Las Vegas wash. This reveals that the mammal once lived in Nevada. It was found in a fossil rich area known for ice age animals. It is estimated to be 10,000-15,000 years old from the Pleistocene period. The metapodial (foot bone)was uncovered late last year by UNLV geologist Josh Bonde. "Dire wolves are known to have lived in almost all of North America south of Canada, but their historical presence in Nevada has been absent until now," said Bonde, a UNLV geology professor. This fills another part of the map for the animal and reveals a bit about the ecosystem in Southern Nevada. Ice Age Dire Wolf

Russian scientists to attempt clone of woolly mammoth

This article is about the cloning of a woolly mammoth. Russian and Japaneses scientists are claiming that a thigh bone, that they found in August, contains remarkably preserved bone marrow cells. This bone marrow will be the first step in the cloning. The scientists believe that the cloning will be complete in the next five years.

The team is planning to extract a nucleus from the bone marrow and insert it into an egg from an African elephant. Similar procedures has been done before. In 2009 it was reported that the recently extinct Pyrenean ibex was bought back to life briefly after using 10 year old DNA from the animal's skin. The animal died after cloning due to breathing problems.

The Roslin Institute, famous for the cloning of Dolly the sheep, had some thoughts on the bringing back extinct animal to life. They believe that this is highly unlikely because of the use of the elephant as a surrogate mother. They suggested using a cow because it the best biological match but is too small compare to the woolly mammoth. They also doubt it because the scientists to successfully clone would need a whole cell. The Roslin Institute believe that the success rate for this experiment is 1-5%.