An illustration of a family of Woolly Mammoths grazing on what is left of the grasses as winter approaches in this ice age scene. (Aunt_Spray) (Credit: iStock) (Aunt_Spray)
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Woolly mammoths have been extinct for more than 4,000 years, but with new gene-editing techniques, they could help mitigate the effects of a modern problem: climate change.
Most of the hype so far has focused on bringing these shaggy beasts back to life using their permafrost-preserved DNA. But this time, scientists aren’t aiming for a “Jurassic Park” scenario — they’re not trying to bring back entire mammoths exactly as they were in the last ice age. Rather, they’re hoping to mingle some of the mammoths’ ancient genes with those of today’s Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), to increase the elephants’ tolerance to the cold, said George Church, a Harvard and…
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Exposing the Big Game 
I wish we could bring mammoths back but not to play God.
I’d like to see the passenger pigeon brought back. And I pray that I am wrong, but I don’t think our poor elephants are going to survive ten years at the rate we’re going, never mind another ice age.
I guess that bringing back the passenger pigeon isn’t that thrilling for some. But not for this guy:
http://nautil.us/issue/42/fakes/the-case-for-bringing-back-the-passenger-pigeon
It’s really difficult to accept just how this bird was driven to extinction in such a short time.