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Entrepreneur plans to resurrect woolly mammoths

nhm.ac.uk

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Re: Entrepreneur plans to resurrect woolly mammoths

#41

Post by BurningFrog »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #17

I think this is considerably more difficult than they think, genomes are more than just throwing genes together. It’s a finely tuned symphony made by evolution, epigenetic silencing and signaling, gene position. I suspect it doesn’t work at all but if they got something it would be more like the centaurs in Fallout. I also think there are ethical questions whether that baby “mammoth” being born would ask to be create…

You only learn how difficult it is by attempting it.

We breed zillions of animals without ever asking them for consent. In part because it's impossible. Those are some brand new goalposts.

Re: Entrepreneur plans to resurrect woolly mammoths

#42

Post by throwaway894345 »

ravenstine wrote: post #9

Eh, it's hard for me to not be cynical about this given the number of times I've heard this exact headline throughout my life. When I was a little kid I saw on a TV program that "these scientists are working on bring back wooly mammoths and experts agree that we could see living wooly mammoths in the next 3 years". > Can mammoths really reverse climate change? > Colossal say that they want to 'rewild extinct species…

> Can mammoths really reverse climate change?

It’s so obvious: we should sequester carbon inside of wooly mammoths.

Re: Entrepreneur plans to resurrect woolly mammoths

#43

Post by nicoffeine »

ravenstine wrote: post #9

Eh, it's hard for me to not be cynical about this given the number of times I've heard this exact headline throughout my life. When I was a little kid I saw on a TV program that "these scientists are working on bring back wooly mammoths and experts agree that we could see living wooly mammoths in the next 3 years". > Can mammoths really reverse climate change? > Colossal say that they want to 'rewild extinct species…

> That seems like pure nonsense and perhaps a way to market their goofy experiment to gullible journalists.

Grasslands evolved in symbiotic relationships with the animals that tread on them, just as in any other part of the biosphere. As long as the wooly mammoth population is kept in check by humans, since they are not introducing mammoth predators, they will aerate the ground, eat and spread seeds, and provide essential elements and minerals to the soil as a natural part of their excretion processes. It will also have knock-on effects as insects regain access to dung, and that will feed the birds, and the birds and their eggs will become food for other animals, and so on.

It's a lot easier to restore ecology that existed 10-20 thousand years ago than to wait millions of years for another set of species to maximize the biological output of a given area. Rewilding is based on solid science and is thankfully here to stay.

Re: Entrepreneur plans to resurrect woolly mammoths

#44

Post by teshier-A »

ravenstine wrote: post #9

Eh, it's hard for me to not be cynical about this given the number of times I've heard this exact headline throughout my life. When I was a little kid I saw on a TV program that "these scientists are working on bring back wooly mammoths and experts agree that we could see living wooly mammoths in the next 3 years". > Can mammoths really reverse climate change? > Colossal say that they want to 'rewild extinct species…

Take a look at this experiment in Siberia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_Park

>The aim of the project is to research the climatic effects of the expected changes in the ecosystem. Here the hypothesis is that the change from tundra to grassland will result in a raised ratio of energy emission to energy absorption of the area, leading to less thawing of permafrost and thereby less emission of greenhouse gases.[8][9] It is also thought that removal of snow by large herbivores will further reduce the permafrost's insulation.

>To study this, large herbivores have been released, and their effect on the local fauna is being monitored. Preliminary results point at the ecologically low-grade tundra biome being converted into a productive grassland biome and at the energy emission of the area being raised.[10]

Re: Entrepreneur plans to resurrect woolly mammoths

#45

Post by onychomys »

gazookgaboot wrote: post #21

Mammoth is literally the hardest animal to do this for. Why not the dodo? Or anything smaller/with a faster generation time. I guess that wouldn't bring in investors and reporters...

It has a super long generation time, but at least we have a very large number of carcasses to work from. There's nearly no dodo DNA laying around.

Re: Entrepreneur plans to resurrect woolly mammoths

#46

Post by garyfirestorm »

ravenstine wrote: post #9

Eh, it's hard for me to not be cynical about this given the number of times I've heard this exact headline throughout my life. When I was a little kid I saw on a TV program that "these scientists are working on bring back wooly mammoths and experts agree that we could see living wooly mammoths in the next 3 years". > Can mammoths really reverse climate change? > Colossal say that they want to 'rewild extinct species…

lol humans can keep forests at bay! why do we need mammoths for that?

Re: Entrepreneur plans to resurrect woolly mammoths

#48

Post by dylan604 »

stupidcar wrote: post #16

I remember reading a cryptozoological theory that there could still be some mammoths left, hidden in the vastness of Siberia. Absurd, obviously, but I always thought you could make a great film about a ragtag crew searching for the last remaining mammoth tribe in the wilderness.

One country has a legend of mammoths. One country has Loch Ness monster. Another has sasquatch. Another has yeti. Some even have dragons or sea creatures.

Re: Entrepreneur plans to resurrect woolly mammoths

#50

Post by gumby »

rafale wrote: post #38
gumby wrote: post #36

What would be the business model for such a company?

Jurassic Park.

It’s hard for me to believe that getting to see a mammoth would be adequate to get much traffic. Perhaps they could some to some zoos, but again the n is small.

Apologies if your comment was meant to be humorous.

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