An International Center for the Study of Cells of Prehistoric Animals will be open in Yakutia, a region in the Russian far north, within the project "Mammoth Resurrection project".

Experts have enough material to revive mammoths, because 75 percent of all known mammoths was found in Yakutia.

The problem of cloning is in the fact that it requires a cell with an intact nucleus, ie. genetic material, and they are very rare.

The first mammoths should be born in 5 to 30 years, and experts say it is difficult to give a clear prognosis for the first cloning which will be performed by experts from the "Lazarev Mammoth Museum" of the Northeastern Federal University's Institute of Applied Ecology, and "Soam", a Korean foundation for biotechnology research.

The Korean side procured equipment worth several million dollars, and it already has a lot of experience in cloning. Northeastern Federal University's Institute renovated rooms necessary for the work of scientists.

Since there is no live mammoth, the main problem is to find cells suitable for standard cloning procedures. The essence of the process is in separation of nucleus from the initial cell, and its transplantation to the oocyte of another organism.

Scientists have already made a genetic map of a mammoth. Its data will be compared with the chromosome of the Asian elephant, which will be altered to serve as a base for creating mammoth chromosome. The resulting material will be embedded in the female elephant's oocyte for further breeding.

Revieving extinct species so far was not successful, but some endangered animals were saved from extinction.

Critics of the idea of cloning extinct animals point out that, even if they survive, they will not be able to learn how to behave in nature, because their parents would be specimens of another species.

They believe that the cloning technique could be of better use in increasing of genetic diversity of endangered species, which would increase the likelihood of their survival.