Woolly mammoths have laid silently and largely undisturbed in their permafrost graves since they last traversed that path a million years ago. However, now that scientists have become inquisitive, they have chosen to break their slumber and try to ‘reawaken’ old, Stone Age viruses.
The remnants of the woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, other extinct species, and dormant old viruses can all be found in northeast Siberia, according to researchers.
The goal of the project, which is being carried out by Vector or Russia’s State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology, is to collect cellular material that carries the viruses that killed the enormous monsters and do experiments on them in a lab.
However, there’s concern that given the fact that the human bodies of today are strangers to these prehistoric ‘paleoviruses’ and if they were to jump the species barrier, the coronavirus pandemic may end up looking like the less deadly outbreak.
Given that the woolly mammoth were huge animals the size of today’s elephants which are much larger than an average human, the viruses that killed them are definitely a cause of concern.
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