(Newser) – Woolly mammoths could be walking the Earth again in as little as four years, according to a Japanese scientist. A technique pioneered in 2008 successfully cloned a mouse from the cells of a mouse frozen for 16 years, and the professor believes he can use the same technique to resurrect the mammoth, which has been extinct for 5,000 years.



"Now the technical problems have been overcome, all we need is a good sample of soft tissue from a frozen mammoth," the professor tells the Telegraph. He plans to travel to Siberia this summer to search for mammoths in the permafrost. When a suitable sample is found, he aims to use an elephant for the surrogate mother. He estimates the elephant can be impregnated within two years, followed by a 600-day gestation period. (Read more woolly mammoth stories.)

