[Kerrigan]

Mammoths may roam again after 27,000 years
BODIES of extinct Ice Age mammals, such as woolly mammoths, that have been frozen in permafrost for thousands of years may contain viable sperm that could be used to bring them back from the dead, scientists said yesterday. Research has indicated that mammalian sperm can survive being frozen for much longer than was previously thought, suggesting that it could potentially be recovered from species that have died out.

Several well-preserved mammoth carcasses have been found in the permafrost of Siberia, and scientists estimate that there could be millions more.

Last year a Canadian team demonstrated that it was possible to extract DNA from the specimens, and announced the sequencing of about 1 per cent of the genome of a mammoth that died about 27,000 years ago.
_______________________________________

Mammoths? I would rather see them figure out how to bring T.Rexes back. Still, pretty cool development.

[Philip J. Fry]

I wonder how they'll survive global warming

[Landos Mustache]

Ya that is all we need right now, more hairy elephants.

[Kerrigan]

Is the view still looking for a Starr Jones replacement?

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by Kerrigan

Is the view still looking for a Starr Jones replacement?

Best answer

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

Ya that is all we need right now, more hairy elephants.

Cavemen thought they were pretty good eatin'.

Mmmm. Mammoth burgers.

[MindFad]

Defrost some of them mammoth loads (pun completely intended) and get-ta-cookin'—impregnating, rather—some big ass elephants, I say.

[ghporter]

NOT a la Jurasic Park. The scientists looking into this are looking at creating hybrids of ancient animals and modern animals.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by ghporter

NOT a la Jurasic Park. The scientists looking into this are looking at creating hybrids of ancient animals and modern animals.

That's what they did in Jurassic Park too, isn't it?

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by Chuckit

That's what they did in Jurassic Park too, isn't it?

No, but that wasn't really science anyway.

[Busemann]

Originally Posted by ghporter

NOT a la Jurasic Park. The scientists looking into this are looking at creating hybrids of ancient animals and modern animals.

Well, in Jurassic Park they used frog DNA

[Kerrigan]

Ya they filled in the "missing gaps" with frog DNA. In this case it's something similar: making a mixed Mammoth/Elephant.

I wonder why they can't clone a mammoth and let an elephant give birth to it?

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by Kerrigan

Ya they filled in the "missing gaps" with frog DNA. In this case it's something similar: making a mixed Mammoth/Elephant.

I wonder why they can't clone a mammoth and let an elephant give birth to it?

The DNA they're hoping to extract is from mammoth sperm, they wouldn't be able to clone anything from that (except, possibly, more sperm). Last I heard their plan was to impregnate modern elephants and then breed them such that the mammoth DNA becomes more and more concentrated over the generations. Eventually they'd end up with something very close to a pure mammoth.

[Obi Wan's Ghost]

Gentleman, I have seen the future of transport.

[cjrivera]

We could bring back lots of dinosaurs and kill them off for oil...




Jacobs: Well, let's see: First the earth cooled. And, then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died, and they turned into oil. And, then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benzes. And, Prince Charles started wearing all of Lady Di's clothes. I couldn't believe it, he took her best summer dress out of the closet, and put it on, and went to town.

[Pendergast]

Originally Posted by Kerrigan

(...)Canadian team(...)

Still, pretty cool development.

From this side of the border? Oh yes!

[greenG4]

I doubt the elephant/mamoth hybrid would be able to reproduce. A mule can't either. Same thing. Just a little smaller...

[rambo47]

Mammoths are only the first step. You just know they have their eye's on bigger prizes. The technology to do most of this is still in it's infancy, but in our lifetimes we're gonna see some crazy sh!t, mark my words. I'm getting a Barrett, just to be safe.

[Rev-O]

Some Korean fella has supposedly already tried to clone a mammoth with no success.

[starman]

Great....Mammoth Burgers at Burger King soon

[demograph68]

Um, did anyone watch the movie? Dinosaurs ate everyone up. So let's do that but with Mammoths!

[Dakar]

Originally Posted by demograph68

Um, did anyone watch the movie? Dinosaurs ate everyone up. So let's do that but with Mammoths!

Hmm... Getting ripped up by a mammoth doesn't sound as cool.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by Kerrigan

I wonder why they can't clone a mammoth and let an elephant give birth to it?

Must... resist... elephant/pig jokes...

Ahem. The other problem with using this method to bring back true mammoths is that the scientists really only have the genetic equivalent of a handful of mammoths to work with. It's not really possible to produce a viable gene pool out of so few individuals; the result would be massive inbreeding within only a couple off generations. You could engineer different individuals from the clones if you had enough knowledge of the genome, but with so few individuals it's going to be very difficult if not impossible to study the genome reliably.

In other words, this is an interesting try, but it's not going to work unless they can find many more samples.

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by Rev-O

Some Korean fella has supposedly already tried to clone a mammoth with no success.

I thought it turned out to be a fraud.

[Chuckit]

Cloning technology is also nowhere near ready for primetime.

[Uncle Skeleton]

Originally Posted by Millennium

Must... resist... elephant/pig jokes...

Ahem. The other problem with using this method to bring back true mammoths is that the scientists really only have the genetic equivalent of a handful of mammoths to work with. It's not really possible to produce a viable gene pool out of so few individuals; the result would be massive inbreeding within only a couple off generations. You could engineer different individuals from the clones if you had enough knowledge of the genome, but with so few individuals it's going to be very difficult if not impossible to study the genome reliably.

In other words, this is an interesting try, but it's not going to work unless they can find many more samples.

The other option is to identify all (most) of the recessive lethals and remove them (or breed them out). Laboratory animals are inbred on purpose and it doesn't stop them from reproducing like the dickens.

[SirCastor]

Originally Posted by MindFad

Defrost some of them mammoth loads (pun completely intended) and get-ta-cookin'—impregnating, rather—some big ass elephants, I say.

Actually, Mammoths weren't really any larger than any modern elephant. It's a false impression thats been carried through the years...

[Velocity211]

Originally Posted by Philip J. Fry

I wonder how they'll survive global warming

They won't

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton

The other option is to identify all (most) of the recessive lethals and remove them (or breed them out).

That works, but you need a decent knowledge of the genome in order to do that, and getting that knowledge requires a sustainable gene pool. We don't have that, so we're stuck in a chicken-and-egg problem.

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by Velocity211

They won't

They already haven't.

[olePigeon]

Don't worry, I'm sure George Bush will find a reason why it's a slight against God and veto any funding or attempt to do it.

[Gossamer]

Originally Posted by olePigeon

Don't worry, I'm sure George Bush will find a reason why it's a slight against God and veto any funding or attempt to do it.

Excellent job in trying to turn this into a political/religious thread in a single post!

[Dakar]

Originally Posted by Gossamer

Excellent job in trying to turn this into a political/religious thread in a single post!

He didn't derail it yet, but yeah, you're bringin' me down, man!

[Uncle Skeleton]

Originally Posted by Millennium

That works, but you need a decent knowledge of the genome in order to do that, and getting that knowledge requires a sustainable gene pool. We don't have that, so we're stuck in a chicken-and-egg problem.

Or you just need to stay on task with your breeding strategies. Survival of the fittest will take care of finding the right (or wrong) genes. With enough funding at least.

[Zeeb]

What would be the purpose of bringing back a mammoth? I guess I could understand trying to restore an animal that went extinct recently as a result of pollution or over-hunting but this is an animal that went extinct for natural reasons.

[n8236]

We'll put them in Antarctica, perhap place

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Zeeb

What would be the purpose of bringing back a mammoth? I guess I could understand trying to restore an animal that went extinct recently as a result of pollution or over-hunting but this is an animal that went extinct for natural reasons.

Not necessarily. Overhunting is a possible reason for the mammoth extinction.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Chuckit

Not necessarily. Overhunting is a possible reason for the mammoth extinction.

Climate shift and disease are two other possibilities.

[Zeeb]

Originally Posted by Chuckit

Not necessarily. Overhunting is a possible reason for the mammoth extinction.

All right, well if that's true it would seem that bringing it back might be awkward. Would it exist only in zoos? Or would people try to actually insert it back into the wild?

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Zeeb

All right, well if that's true it would seem that bringing it back might be awkward. Would it exist only in zoos? Or would people try to actually insert it back into the wild?

Good question. It would certainly be weird.

[davesimondotcom]

Originally Posted by Millennium

Must... resist... elephant/pig jokes...

Who are you to resist the greatness that is Loverboy?

The men's league baseball team I founded a couple years ago was the Mammoths. And in a way, we were brought back to life after many dormant years of no baseball.

Here's our logo:

[Lava Lamp Freak]

If they can bring back Rocky Balboa, I don't know why anyone is surprised they can bring back the woolly mammoth.

[Zeeb]

Originally Posted by Lava Lamp Freak

If they can bring back Rocky Balboa, I don't know why anyone is surprised they can bring back the woolly mammoth.