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Cloneable Mammoth Cells Discovered in Russia

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the large-pieces-of-the-past dept.

orthogonal writes "Animal Planet reports, in this article, that 'Russian scientists said Wednesday that they've found living cells in a frozen ice-age mammoth' which could be cloned, and gestated in an elephant. I see a new Republican mascot in this."

3 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Re:interesting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative
    I can't figure out what you don't understand. It's a standard practice now. They take an elephant egg, remove the DNA, put in Mammoth DNA, sprinkle some magic, and implant the egg in a female elephant. If you want more details, look up a sheap called Dolly.

    Of course the real problem is that the DNA is not likely to be in very good shape. I bet 100% of the clones would die before birth.

  2. Re:interesting... by Simon+Field · · Score: 4, Informative


    I don't think that's what he didn't understand.

    I think he hadn't seen Scientific American, or any of the other coverage.

    --

    Free book: Science Toys You Can Make

  3. Re:Darwin must be rolling in his grave. by cookie_cutter · · Score: 4, Informative
    very few creatures have any chance of survival once their genetic pool gets constricted to a few hundred creatures.

    It depends how many hundreds. This relates to a concept called minimum viable population size. According to a site about elephant conservation:

    Genetic theorists believe that at least 500 breeding animals [elephants] are needed to ensure long-term survival.

    Other species seem to be able to get around with much smaller populations, less than a hundred in some cases.