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Yes, we should revive this species, along with mastodons. We probably killed them off to begin with, so we have a moral obligation.
The idea has been around for decades. Originally it was thought that all you have to do is swap out the DNA in the egg and sperm and presto! extinction revival.
However it turns out that there are many cofactors such as RNA sequences that also are needed. Unfortunately, just mapping out the DNA -- a great feat unto itself, mind you -- won't be enough.
Most likely, the creature, if it survives, would be a hybrid of an Asian elephant and a true mammoth. However, if it is bred with other hybrids, possibly its offspring would be more "pure".
These ancient pachyderms are thought to have been much more aggressive than modern day elephants. If you see a wooly mammoth, you'd better hide quick.
I think we should also try to revive Neanderthals, since it's likely we also killed (and maybe ate) them as well. We did breed with them, because most people outside of Africa have 2-4% Neanderthal DNA. So, in a sense, we are the Neanderthals. But to bring back the pure species would be pretty cool. They might have been more intelligent; at any rate they had larger brains.
The woolly mammoth is another species of elephant, larger with more fur. It's really no secret what they were like at all. They didn't go extinct all that long ago and full skeletons can be found. They lived in herds, were herbivores just like their elephant cousins. Consensus now says people caused these great beasts to become extinct, not climate change.
No, the Tasmanian Devil is not being brought back because they still exist and can be found naturally or in zoo and preserves.
The Tasmanian tiger (not a tiger at all) is what is being brought back. It's also called a thylacine. It was the largest marsupial predator about the size of a medium dog, until the early 1900s when they were shot and poisoned into extinction. They were pretty awesome creatures unlike anything else that existed. Making them go extinct on purpose is one of the most shameful events in Australian history.
I'm all for mankind fixing its mistakes. If man caused a creature to become extinct and has the technology to bring it back, then that's what should happen, IMO. I see nothing morally wrong with it, but just the opposite. It would be morally wrong not to bring them back since if not for the stupidity of people, they would still be here.
Mammoths didn't go extinct because of man's stupidity, but people trying to play God by bringing them back into a world that has no place for them is beyond idiotic.
Mammoths didn't go extinct because of man's stupidity, but people trying to play God by bringing them back into a world that has no place for them is beyond idiotic.
You know this how? Even experts aren’t positively certain if their extinction was due to people or not but yet you say it like somehow you know for sure.
And who determines if the world has a place for anything?
Mammoths didn't go extinct because of man's stupidity, but people trying to play God by bringing them back into a world that has no place for them is beyond idiotic.
"People Trying to Play God". This is heard all the time with new technology.
Well, how many things is the humane race capable of doing today that 150 years ago would have been considered playing God? Space travel? In Vitro Fertilization? Genetically modified food? All these things are common today.
There is much scientific research now showing humans played a significant role in the extinction of the woolly mammoth.
The woolly mammoth is another species of elephant, larger with more fur. It's really no secret what they were like at all. They didn't go extinct all that long ago and full skeletons can be found. They lived in herds, were herbivores just like their elephant cousins. Consensus now says people caused these great beasts to become extinct, not climate change.
No, the Tasmanian Devil is not being brought back because they still exist and can be found naturally or in zoo and preserves.
The Tasmanian tiger (not a tiger at all) is what is being brought back. It's also called a thylacine. It was the largest marsupial predator about the size of a medium dog, until the early 1900s when they were shot and poisoned into extinction. They were pretty awesome creatures unlike anything else that existed. Making them go extinct on purpose is one of the most shameful events in Australian history.
I'm all for mankind fixing its mistakes. If man caused a creature to become extinct and has the technology to bring it back, then that's what should happen, IMO. I see nothing morally wrong with it, but just the opposite. It would be morally wrong not to bring them back since if not for the stupidity of people, they would still be here.
I don't disagree in theory. My main concern, however, becomes reintroducing species where we don't have a good way to teach newly reproduced specimens how they are meant to live/survive in the wild.
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Any whoolly mammoth created would be a creature that does not belong in the current timeline. The Earth and all of the creatures on it (including humans) are constantly evolving. To bring back a creature that went extinct 30,000 years ago, regardless of the reason it went extinct, may be asking for a disaster unlike any that we've seen before. Although the story War Of The Worlds may be fiction, the means by which the aliens were killed off, is entirely possible. We already know that diseases can be passed between species of life. What if the Whoolly Mammouth has a gut bacteria that if passed to another species, causes that species to die off because there is no natural immunity that would normally have developed in the 30 millennia since the Whoolly Mammouth went extinct?
Any whoolly mammoth created would be a creature that does not belong in the current timeline. The Earth and all of the creatures on it (including humans) are constantly evolving. To bring back a creature that went extinct 30,000 years ago, regardless of the reason it went extinct, may be asking for a disaster unlike any that we've seen before. Although the story War Of The Worlds may be fiction, the means by which the aliens were killed off, is entirely possible. We already know that diseases can be passed between species of life. What if the Whoolly Mammouth has a gut bacteria that if passed to another species, causes that species to die off because there is no natural immunity that would normally have developed in the 30 millennia since the Whoolly Mammouth went extinct?
Scientists are playing with fire in this case.
Woolly mammoths were still on earth as recently as 4-6 thousand years ago, not 30,000 being in North America at the same time as Native Americans, both coming from Asia. There was even a pygmy or dwarf variety isolated on islands off California which stood only about 5 ft tall. I can understand your concern but just trying to set the record straight as far as facts.
Extinction Of Mammoths
The mass elimination of large animals of over 44 kilograms that took place in America and northern Eurasia led to the extinction of most woolly mammoths and Colombian mammoths that inhabited these areas. About 12,000 years ago, other woolly mammoths were presumed to have disappeared from southern Siberia and Europe. However, 2,000 years later some woolly mammoths were confirmed to have still been existing. It did not last long before they also vanished. By the 4th millennium BCE, approximately 4,000 years ago, the last woolly mammoth had gone extinct. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/...o-extinct.html
Last edited by marino760; 03-10-2024 at 08:08 AM..
Frankenstein. Westworld. Jurassic Park. What could go wrong?
It is pretty fascinating as a one-off experiment. I question the morals of that, unless you are trying to re-establish an extinct species back into the ecosystem, and then I would question the wisdom of that. Many extinct animals could not adapt. Bringing them back raises the potential for very unintended consequences, including great harm to those animals.
Maybe someday we will be having Dodo Bird for Thanksgiving dinner.
The bolded was my immediate thought when I saw the subject heading. Imagine the suffering these animals will be faced with. The environment they lived and thrived in, including their sustenance, is gone and cannot be reproduced.
The bolded was my immediate thought when I saw the subject heading. Imagine the suffering these animals will be faced with. The environment they lived and thrived in, including their sustenance, is gone and cannot be reproduced.
Perhaps and likely true for the mammoth, though not at all true for the thylacene in Tazmania where it would be reintroduced to where it lived little more than 100 years ago. Much of it's natural environment is still intact.
I wouldn't want any animal to be brought back just to be a zoo specimen.
You know this how? Even experts aren’t positively certain if their extinction was due to people or not but yet you say it like somehow you know for sure.
I didn't say that. I said man's stupidity wasn't the cause. Humankind had no way of knowing if they were killing the species off thousands of years ago. They were merely trying to survive. Wildlife science didn't exist.
Quote:
And who determines if the world has a place for anything?
Ecologists and wildlife scientists, not boys playing with toys.
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