Scientists May Be Able to Clone Mammoth

By Hum
in Science News & Discussion

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Grand Master

+Mirumir Subscriber¹

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This big news here isn't the advance in technology, but intact bone marrow, without it all cloning regardless of technology probably wouldn't of happened.

imho, it's an international relations issue, a sort of a PR stunt, cause Japan and Russia are still technically at war. And despite of this, they can still manage to cooperate.

Veteran

thechronic

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They were talking about cloning mammoths when I was in middle school in the 80s. I'm not sure this is really news?

It is and it isn't. They have wanted to for a long time but as the article suggests obtaining a good enough sample has been a problem and possibilities have improved dramatically.

Mentor

pack34

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This.. I don't see a reason for it either tbh... Other than the novelty of it, but that's not really a good reason!

And on second thought, it may be an even worse idea. They've been extinct for ages, who knows if they could even survive in the environment we've got now? Unlike the species that are around now, they didn't have a chance to adapt to the little things that have happened along the way. There's stuff in the water that didn't exist back then, the air has more/different pollution, whatever they're eating will be very different to what they had before. I highly doubt they would thrive.

Actually, it's a very good reason. A lot of research is done by guessing, trial and error, "I wonder what would happen if we do this." Who knows what could happen if we clone a mammoth. How different parts of it could be used. Maybe mammoth hair could revolutionize the textile industry, maybe mammoth milk or meat could cure world hunger. Maybe what we learn from cloning a mammoth could lead to revelations in cloning other extinct animals to do the same or human organs to save countless lives.

Us not knowing what could happen is precisely the reason that we should do it (staying within ethical and legal boundaries of course).

Your concerns about whether or not it could survive in current global conditions are valid but I don't see why that would mean we shouldn't try and see what happens.

Grand Master

Southern Patriot

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Wow, really really looking forward to it. Imagine going to a zoo, and seeing extinct animals!

And do these scientists take request? Some dinosaur would be a good idea too. :p

Mammoth bones are much more recent than dinosaur bones. Any dinosaur "bones" we find today are not really bones but rock that has been fossilized in the shape of the original bone (except in very rare cases). What we find with mammoths are the original bones, and sometimes even skin and fur. The chances of getting DNA from a dinosaur fossil are essentially nil.

They were talking about cloning mammoths when I was in middle school in the 80s. I'm not sure this is really news?

They were talking about the possibility of it back then, if they ever were able to recover any viable DNA. Now they actually have that (and MUCH better cloning and DNA replication technology as well).

Grand Master

neoadorable

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to the folks saying mammoths went extinct because of people, well, our ancestors had to survive, otherwise we wouldn't be here. besides, i don't think they hunted them out of existence, it was more that the ice age ended and mammoths couldn't survive in the overall warmer climate of the world.

Grand Master

FloatingFatMan

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to the folks saying mammoths went extinct because of people, well, our ancestors had to survive, otherwise we wouldn't be here. besides, i don't think they hunted them out of existence, it was more that the ice age ended and mammoths couldn't survive in the overall warmer climate of the world.

Or maybe they just continued to evolve and became the elephants we know today...

Grand Master

Glassed Silver

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only if you tell them about what we did to their species in the past, as long as that's a secret, we are fine!

Guess Mammoths are now about to be excluded in the Neowin TOS then! *

Otherwise they are signing up and we go FUUUU raging about it!!!

Glassed Silver:ios

*and all news sites, ... etc

Grand Master

DocM

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Or maybe they just continued to evolve and became the elephants we know today...

Cousins, not ancestors.

The last common ancestor of elephants (Asian and African), mammoths and mastodons was about 38 million years ago - Palaeomastodon.

All three of the relatively modern members of the order Proboscidea, including both modern elephants and the mammoths, are distinct species that split off about 3.5 million years ago.

Mastodons are a different branch that split off about 30 million years ago with the Mammutids.

Grand Master

Hum

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So maybe humans becoming bored might be a good thing?

Civilizations do reach a point where they see no reason to continue on Earth.

They move on to other areas of the universe.

The have been several civilizations that preceeded ours, including more 'technical'. ;)

Grand Master

neoadorable

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HEHEHE awesome Astra! "Every day i'm snufflin, snufflin..." made my day!

almost as good as Doc saying mammutids! and i'm glad the baron is back - you're needed in the shifting sand dunes thread, thanks.

Grand Master

Glassed Silver

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mmm Mammoth KFC :D

Didn't know mammoths are classified as birds.

They must belong to the types that can't fly though, cause I see little potential for aerodynamics and lifting off to begin with (other than falling from a big cliff... :laugh:)

Guess I learned something new again...

Glassed Silver:win

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