One day the ancient creatures could be brought to life again through a move that has nothing to do with a fantastic story, such as the one from Ben Stiller’s comedy “Night at the Museum”. A team of scientists have started to decode the DNA of ten woolly mammoths from a wide swathe of northern Siberia and with dates of death spanning approximately 38,000 years - from 50,000 years to 12,000 years ago. They have used a technique that is likely to revolutionize the genetic testing of the extinct creatures.

The researchers, Stephan C. Schuster and Webb Miller of Penn State University, working with Thomas Gilbert from Copenhagen, have been lucky enough to discover a new source of genetic material for studying the DNA of the ancient huge creatures; they have used samples of hair and they have reconstructed the complete mitochondrial genomes of the animals. The scientists have been able to such great results because hair proved to be a better source of DNA than muscles or bones, for example. Mammoths have lived about 50,000 years ago and it would have been difficult for the scientists to study their putrefied bones or muscles. When the animals died thousands of years ago their bodies putrefied and the bacteria got throughout them; the bacterial DNA made up 50 to 90 percent of the raw DNA extracted from the remains of the animals. So, when the researchers have found mammoth hair for their study, they have been able to get to revolutionary findings.

And because the DNA sequences are reportedly very detailed, the new study is expected to cast a new light on why these animals became extinct.

"When people thought of sequencing DNA from hair, the usual assumption was that the material must come from the hair root, which contains recognizable cells, because the hair shaft appears to be dead," Miller explained, "however, we now know that a hair shaft consists essentially of DNA encased in a kind of biological plastic." Protected in this way, the DNA resists damage, and readily can be separated from any bacteria that may contaminate the sample. "We discovered, moreover, that the DNA in hair shafts is remarkably enriched for mitochondrial DNA, the special type of DNA frequently used to measure the genetic diversity of a population," Gilbert added.

The new route to the genetic material of extinct animals also will enable researchers to study the relatedness of individual animals from different populations at a much higher resolution than previously thought possible. "We plan to use hair and other keratin-containing body parts, such as nail and horn, to untangle the secrets of populations that lived long ago, so these populations can send a message from the past about what it might have taken for them to survive," Schuster said. "This discovery is good news for anyone interested in learning more about how species of large mammals can go extinct."