· by:Mariette Le Roux
· From:AFP
· April 23, 2013 9:28AM
WOOLLY mammoths stomp through the Siberian tundra as the giant moa strides the forest floor of New Zealand and Tasmania's dog-like "tigers" stalk their prey under the cover of night.
This is not a snapshot of times past, nor next year's sequel to Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park.
Instead, it's a scenario that some biogeneticists see as plausible in our own lifetimes: the resurrection of species driven to extinction, sometimes thousands of years ago.
Next Thursday will be 60 years since Francis Crick and James Watson published their paper unveiling the structure of DNA, the double-helix genetic code for life.
Today, some experts believe that by harnessing this breakthrough knowledge, the first extinct species could be revived within years.
They could be cloned from genetic material teased from preserved tissues, with the reprogrammed egg implanted in a cousin species.
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