De-Extinction: How to Clone a Mastodon

collage  2021  15″h, 30″w

There have been attempts to extract mastodon DNA from excavated bones to clone a mastodon but have not been successful because the fragments are not viable.  When searching the internet for mastodon DNA visualizations I found images that resemble mastodon feet and used them as collage material.  The overlaid drawing mimics a scientific diagram with the addition of an elephantine genome representing a set of genetic changes that likely played important roles in wooly mammoth DNA.

Images of the DNA fragments were used as the foreground and background and to resemble the leg bones as if these fragments are part of an excavated mastodon.

• Diagrams
• Hand colouring