@altschmerz The part about using Reptilian DNA to fill in the strands? That was pure fiction.

We've also not been able to extract any DNA from the blood of mosquitoes in Amber, either.

We're close to making baby wooly mammoths only because

1. We've found actual well preserved flesh from extinct species over 10K years old (they might have been on earth as recently as 6000 years BC.)

2. They're very much like elephants; so if we ever can induce a transfer of Mammoth DNA in to the fertilized egg of an elephant it could happen.

I'll search the latest on that and put the link here. Good question

I found this;
"They have so far failed to find enough to perform cloning experiments. "

"While some scientists have therefore ruled out using this technique to bring mammoths back from extinction, all hope may not be lost as some think it is possible to merge genes taken from preserved specimens with those of their closest living relative—the Asian elephant."

Unfortunately, I found this admission of failure in an article that lied in its' headline;

[iflscience.com]

@altschmerz Here's the article that explains why Amber trapping mosquitoes and using their blood wouldn't work either...but it's remotely feasible....

[science.howstuffworks.com]