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Cloning Mammoths

Posted by michael on from the elephantine-problems dept.

Anonym Feigling writes "For your consideration... An article over at the New Zealand Herald discusses some of the challenges a japanes team faces as it attemps to develop a system to create a clone from 20,000 year-old mammoth tissue samples discovered in Siberia. It seems to me that shortly after death, any animal's/plant's "cellular repair mechanisms" (for the lack of a better...) will fail, and thus the probability of finding a single cell with perfectly intact DNA from which to create a clone is pretty well zero. Interesting stuff, but it seems that practical considerations (think code rot) would make it difficult."

7 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. Would you want to? by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 3, Funny

    Knowing how much just plain elephants eat and destroy, would we want double-sized hairy elephant?

    Scitentifically, that's cool. But ask yourself: Why did they die out?

    fp

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  2. Mammoth tissue samples? by L.+VeGas · · Score: 2, Funny

    Talk about imprecise. Exactly how big is that? As opposed to what... teeny, weeny tissue samples?

    What? Wooly mammoth? What do you mean by that? You mean, like with hair?

    The only place to get a wooly mammoth tissue sample from me is my butt. Why would you want to clone that?

    Bunch of pervs.

    --
    Best Windows Freeware
  3. Because... Re:Would you want to? by WolfWithoutAClause · · Score: 4, Funny
    Because, they reproduce slowly, and they're finger-lickin good ;-)

    (Mammoths died out only 5000-10000 years ago- they definitely would have had run ins with our ancestors.)

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    -WolfWithoutAClause

    "Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"
  4. Not can do, but should do? by jpsst34 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Here comes the barrage of "proving they can do it without considering if they should do it" posts. Well, here's a good reason why I'd want to clone mammoths: They'd make great pets. Kind of like Porno for Pyros would. Except that their prohibitive size would mean you'd probably have to hire a poopsmith just to clean up after the fucker!

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    How are you going to keep them down on the farm once they've seen Karl Hungus?
    1. Re:Not can do, but should do? by dheltzel · · Score: 2, Funny
      Well, here's a good reason why I'd want to clone mammoths: They'd make great pets.

      The government just banned the importation of Giant Rats for pets, do you really think they are going to let you keep a Wooly Mammoth? Even if they don't transmit monkeypox to humans, if they just sneeze on you it could be life threatening. Imagine the death certificate:

      Cause of death: suffocated under a blanket of mammoth snot.

  5. Re:Clone by oever · · Score: 2, Funny

    Slashdot rule #2 and 3: all articles about clones and Duplo should be posted a factor of two times.

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    DNA is the ultimate spaghetti code.
  6. ok, lets get this over with by mugnyte · · Score: 2, Funny

    ..think of all the Inuit we could feed! (tastes like chicken!)

    ..something new for the zoo! We need genetically engineered giant peanuts.

    ..a Wooly Mammoth? like your mom in a sweater?

    ..Its Woulbie the Wooly! Saturdays at 8! This week: sing along to "I wish you'd thaw my maw"

    ..That amount of poo will suffice for pre-fab housing! You fool! No smoking!

    ..Mammoth Rides! Spain's Run Of The Woolies! Jousting! Mammoth Hair coats! Ivory out the wazoo!

    ..Its whats for dinner. and tomorrow night too. and the next...

    ..Next stop: Reincarnating Hammurabi! We someone with more heart than the current pres.

    .."Nature" Journal Submission Title: F15ST Mammoth B14[H3S!!