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Baby Mammoth Found Intact

knoll99 writes "Scientists unveiled the discovery Wednesday of a baby mammoth found in the permafrost of north-west Siberia. The remains of the six-month-old female mammoth were discovered in a remarkable state of preservation on the Yamal peninsula of Russia in May, a Reuters report said. The specimen is believed to be the best of its kind to date."

227 comments

  1. Go well with by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    some scrambled T-rex eggs, but then again I'm just that type of mutha fuckin balla.

    1. Re:Go well with by painworthy · · Score: 5, Funny

      In other news, Rosie O' Donnell still reported to be missing.

      Criminologists believe that she may have been abducted, but a truck powerful enough to hold such capacity is not known to man.

      --
      yeh this is my sig
    2. Re:Go well with by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ooh, that smells WIIIILD!

      Chapelle was a freaking genius... sniff, sniff.

    3. Re:Go well with by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      Make sure you sprinkle some diamonds in that shit. It's the most baller shit you can possibly do. Plus, it'll make your dookie twinkle, man.

    4. Re:Go well with by h2_plus_O · · Score: 1

      [Go well with] some scrambled T-rex eggs
      You're not that far off- modern people have eaten long-frozen mastadon. I forget who it was- either my AP Bio teacher or my friend's dad (a Bio Prof at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks) reports that it's quite good.
      --
      If there's one thing I won't stand for, it's intolerance.
    5. Re:Go well with by Taagehornet · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      The specimen is believed to be the best of its kind to date.

      Yeah right whatever... but will it blend?

    6. Re:Go well with by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We should clone them, and solve the world's hunger problems! Those things are huge!

    7. Re:Go well with by IdleTime · · Score: 1

      Mmm I'm hungry I'll take one of those mammoth steaks, please!

      --
      If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
    8. Re:Go well with by clem · · Score: 1

      Just take my advice and steer clear of the brontosaurus ribs at your local drive-in diner. They'll tip your car over every time.

      --
      Your courageous and selfless spelling corrections have made me a better person.
  2. that's nothing,just wait by geekoid · · Score: 0

    until they discover a frozen Draenei

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:that's nothing,just wait by CastrTroy · · Score: 2, Informative

      Wikipedia article on Draenei in case anybody is as lost as I am. This is the great thing about wikipedia over any other traditional encyclopedia. Although some may say it's not as accurate, or reliable, it definitely has a wider breadth of knowledge and obscure articles than any other encyclopedia I've ever seen.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    2. Re:that's nothing,just wait by fireboy1919 · · Score: 4, Funny

      In either case, the important question to be answered after having encountered the finest example of something we've never seen before is, "Will it Blend?"

      *Note: I am not in any way affiliated with that site. I just want to see more crap go into blenders and be filmed.

      --
      Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
    3. Re:that's nothing,just wait by geekoid · · Score: 1

      I was surprised to read(in the iPhone: will it blend story) how many people haven't seen it. I would have been telling everyone about it, I just assumed I was the last to know.

      In case you don't know, you can go to WillItBlend.com and suggest stuff to blend.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    4. Re:that's nothing,just wait by Evilest+Doer · · Score: 4, Funny

      Although some may say it's not as accurate, or reliable, it definitely has a wider breadth of knowledge and obscure articles than any other encyclopedia I've ever seen.
      Plus, it has the words "Don't Panic" enscribed in large, friendly letters on the cover.
      --
      I feel like death on a soda cracker.
    5. Re:that's nothing,just wait by stonedcat · · Score: 0

      I bet you 42 dollars that you just posted some over-quoted crap on slashdot.

      --
      You can't take the sky from me.
    6. Re:that's nothing,just wait by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      What a marvel wikipedia is! Perhaps one day somebody else will find an alternative way that you can type in a word you don't know and find information about it. Until then, wikipedia for the win!

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    7. Re:that's nothing,just wait by darthnoodles · · Score: 1

      I saw that yesterday...I suggested a Kevlar vest.

    8. Re:that's nothing,just wait by Bob-taro · · Score: 1

      Although some may say it's not as accurate, or reliable, it definitely has a wider breadth of knowledge and obscure articles than any other encyclopedia I've ever seen. Hey, don't get me wrong, I use wikipedia all the time, but I had to laugh when I read that line. Isn't that pretty close to saying, "The information may be wrong, but there's way more of it!"?
      --
      Prov 9:8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.
    9. Re:that's nothing,just wait by orclevegam · · Score: 1

      I saw that yesterday...I suggested a Kevlar vest.

      That's a good idea, although it really makes me wonder. As I understand it, Kevlar actually cuts very easily (they specifically warn that a Kevlar vest will not stop a knife), but the tight fiber groupings allow it to distribute blunt force impacts very effectively. This makes me wonder if when you put it in the blender it will shred, or will all the fibers get bound up in the blades and drive shaft and burn the motor out?

      --
      Curiosity was framed, Ignorance killed the cat.
  3. Tissue and fluids? by An+Ominous+Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Jurassic Park-esque cloning talk is definitely going to be the focus of most of the discussion, but have any of the articles mentioned how well the tissues, organs, and fluids are preserved? This seems like an extraordinary chance to find hard evidence on what caused their extinction.

    1. Re:Tissue and fluids? by lordofthechia · · Score: 4, Funny

      have any of the articles mentioned how well the tissues, organs, and fluids are preserved? More importantly, what does mammoth taste like? Could this be the new secret ingredient in Iron Chef?
      --
      Georgia Tech, the leader in Chia(tm) technology.
    2. Re:Tissue and fluids? by geekoid · · Score: 2, Funny

      I couldn't find any information on that. The article I read mentioned that they are looking into cloning it.

      I hope the do so. I also hope it it purple with yellow spots, and smells like Green Apple flavored jolly ranchers.

      That would be cool. it would also be a geneticist last day of work, but they would go down in history as the first great genetic prank.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    3. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Rude+Turnip · · Score: 5, Funny

      More importantly...will it blend?

    4. Re:Tissue and fluids? by saintjah · · Score: 2, Informative

      That'd be interesting, but the fact that this mammoth most likely died from an unrelated cause and was frozen afterwards may work against it "holding" the information that we want to find out about extinction?

    5. Re:Tissue and fluids? by geekoid · · Score: 1

      Perfect, well done.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    6. Re:Tissue and fluids? by spoco2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Hah, you know, I was about to say "We already know what Mammoth tastes like as early explorers who found similar frozen specimens ate them"... but, well, I was wrong, no-one in modern times has to anyone's knowledge actually eaten mammoth meat.

      So, there you go, this is the best chance to find out!

      And I was concerned when I read that it was being shipped to Japan that they would consider eating it, what with their terrible track record of eating endangered animals.

    7. Re:Tissue and fluids? by quantaman · · Score: 2, Informative

      The Jurassic Park-esque cloning talk is definitely going to be the focus of most of the discussion, but have any of the articles mentioned how well the tissues, organs, and fluids are preserved? This seems like an extraordinary chance to find hard evidence on what caused their extinction. From TFA

      "Such a unique skin condition protects all the internal organs from modern microbes and micro-organisms ... In terms of its future genetic, molecular and microbiological studies, this is just an unprecedented specimen."

      But Tikhonov dismissed suggestions the mammoth could be cloned and used to breed a live mammoth. Cloning can only be done if whole cells are intact, but the freezing conditions will have caused the cells to burst, he Tikhonov.
      --
      I stole this Sig
    8. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course they taste good! That's why they're extinct.

    9. Re:Tissue and fluids? by flewp · · Score: 1

      I prefer my mammoth served medium-rare.

      --
      WWJD.... for a Klondike bar?
    10. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL! Mod parent up :-D

    11. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The reuters video link says the baby mammoth will be sent to a Japanese university to be "studied". If they study mammoths the same way they study whales, I'm sure we'll find out what mammoths taste like soon!

    12. Re:Tissue and fluids? by StikyPad · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'd wager heavily that the meat will be seriously tainted by freezer burn.

    13. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      More importantly, will it run Linux?

    14. Re:Tissue and fluids? by HTTP+Error+403+403.9 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I was concerned when I read that it was being shipped to Japan that they would consider eating it, what with their terrible track record of eating endangered animals.
      I would be more concerned if this was found in China, they'd probably inject it with melamine, lead and diethylene glycol then ship it the U.S labeled as beef jerky.
      --
      I'm not a Troll, it's reverse psychology.
    15. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Odin's+Raven · · Score: 4, Funny

      I would be more concerned if this was found in China, they'd probably inject it with melamine, lead and diethylene glycol then ship it the U.S labeled as beef jerky.

      Still, that's better ingredients than you'd find in a Slim Jim. :-P

      --
      A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.
    16. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Pedrito · · Score: 2, Informative

      It doesn't really matter. DNA degrades over time, even if preserved in this fashion. It's extremely unlikely that they'd be able to find any viable DNA for cloning. There might be enough pieces in good enough shape for determining a lot about their genetic makeup, but that's likely going to come in the form of DNA fragments.

    17. Re:Tissue and fluids? by CrankyOldBastard · · Score: 3, Informative

      In The Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn describes how the zeks ate a frozen mammoth raw before it could be studied. This has more to do with their inadequate diet than how tasty mammoth is.

    18. Re:Tissue and fluids? by AmberBlackCat · · Score: 1

      I'll put a wig on it and send it back to them labeled as Paris Hilton.

    19. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but the scarey part is, that the current admin's FDA would accept it as ok and might even push it as "tastes like chicken".

    20. Re:Tissue and fluids? by sentientbeing · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well you dont get rarer than extinct..

      --

      ------
      beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his mind he dreams himself your master
    21. Re:Tissue and fluids? by caluml · · Score: 1

      The Gulag Archipelago
      I started reading that. What a miserable book. The guy would have been better off shooting himself.

    22. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Per+Wigren · · Score: 2, Funny

      Oh, Mammoth smoke. Don't breathe this!

      --
      My other account has a 3-digit UID.
    23. Re:Tissue and fluids? by krygny · · Score: 1

      This seems like an extraordinary chance to find hard evidence on what caused their extinction.


      I thought we already knew that. Dick Cheny's farts containing greenhouse gases resulting in global warming.

      --
      Research shows that 67% of those who use the term "research shows", are just making shit up.
    24. Re:Tissue and fluids? by 3waygeek · · Score: 1

      Of course it will -- just scale up one of these.

    25. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Ginger+Unicorn · · Score: 1

      If you RTA you'll see that the scientist in charge says they can't clone it because freezing bursts the cells, and you need intact cells to clone.

      --
      (1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
    26. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But they didn't have mammoths in Jurassic Park!

    27. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From the article, "But Tikhonov dismissed suggestions the mammoth could be cloned and used to breed a live mammoth. Cloning can only be done if whole cells are intact, but the freezing conditions will have caused the cells to burst, he Tikhonov."

    28. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Gilmoure · · Score: 1

      Can we clone a modern elephant from a dead carcass that's only one year old?

      --
      I drank what? -- Socrates
    29. Re:Tissue and fluids? by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      Dammit, "Northern Exposure," you lied to me again!

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    30. Re:Tissue and fluids? by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 1

      I think their extinction was caused by them all dying.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
    31. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget the bear bile.

      Mmmm...Sunny D.

    32. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As I recall, the frozen creature was some sort of prehistoric reptile. He took the quote from some newspaper article that had described how the zeks (I doubt the paper made note of who was eating it and why they were there) ate it willingly and "with relish" (not the pickle stuff)

    33. Re:Tissue and fluids? by sdnick · · Score: 1

      I would be more concerned if this was found in China, they'd probably inject it with melamine, lead and diethylene glycol then ship it the U.S labeled as beef jerky.

      I'd also be concerned if Chinese traditional medicine found a use for it - a lot of endangered animals (tigers, rhinos, bears) have been killed so Chinese men can have a love life.

    34. Re:Tissue and fluids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They'll mix it up with some chemically treated cardboard.

    35. Re:Tissue and fluids? by NewsWatcher · · Score: 1

      As with most megafauna that "died out" this is far from certain. There is lots of evidence that most megafauna simply downsized.

      ie Macropus Titan in Australia downsized to become the red kangaroo.

      With the mammoths, there is every reason to believe they downsized a bit and became the Asian elephants we know so well from India, Thailand etc.

      --
      If the pattern goes 9am, 10am, 11am, why isn't noon 12am?
  4. Turkey Baster.. by ynososiduts · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Time to extract the DNA and impregnate an African elephant to mess with nature in a way we shouldn't.

    --
    622677120
    1. Re:Turkey Baster.. by JebusIsLord · · Score: 2, Informative

      According to TFA, they can't because they need intact cells, and they'll all have burst from the freezing process.

      --
      Jeremy
    2. Re:Turkey Baster.. by geekoid · · Score: 1

      "...way we shouldn't."

      Says who?

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    3. Re:Turkey Baster.. by the_tsi · · Score: 1

      Haven't you heard that song by Loverboy, "Mammoth and Elephant DNA Just Won't Splice"?

    4. Re:Turkey Baster.. by John+Meacham · · Score: 4, Interesting

      not at all, humans killed off mammoths in the first place, brining them back would be righting a wrong of sorts.

      Of course, what I _really_ want to see brought back is the giant ground sloth
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatherium
      Imagine a huge furry clawed creature the size of a bull elephant wandering around on its hind legs towering over 20 feet tall. I can't wait.

      --
      http://notanumber.net/
    5. Re:Turkey Baster.. by ynososiduts · · Score: 1

      "Says me!" - The G-Man I'm a bit of a "prophet". I just don't think we should do things for the sole purpose of messing with nature.

      --
      622677120
    6. Re:Turkey Baster.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Says that asshole. Don't listen to him; mess with nature.

    7. Re:Turkey Baster.. by djupedal · · Score: 2, Informative

      "...and they'll all have burst from the freezing process."

      Technically, cell rupture occurs as a result of the thawing process, and is not related directly to freezing.

      It is possible to control thawing and avoid cell rupture if an organism is found while still originally frozen. I suspect something such as this 6 month old Mammoth has been subjected to more than one cycle of being frozen and thawed out.

    8. Re:Turkey Baster.. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Surely, for cloning, you just need an in-tact cell nucleus, not the entire cell?

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    9. Re:Turkey Baster.. by ynososiduts · · Score: 1

      I wonder if it could withstand the Balmer Chair of Death. That would be the most impressive animal if it were living.

      --
      622677120
    10. Re:Turkey Baster.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      humans killed off mammoths in the first place

      That's been proposed as a possibility. But recent evidence suggests a comet, not human activity, may be to blame.

    11. Re:Turkey Baster.. by Garrett+Fox · · Score: 4, Insightful

      To be fair, the purpose isn't to "mess with nature." It's not like scientists are saying, "Let's screw up the natural order of things," right? The point of doing this, if it's even possible, would be some combination of these closely related reasons: (1) satisfying our curiosity about what these things were like, (2) giving a species a second chance to live, (3) creating something interesting that no living human has seen, and (4) profiting from building an Ice Age Park. Aren't any of those legitimate reasons?

      --
      Revive the Constitution.
    12. Re:Turkey Baster.. by TheMeuge · · Score: 2, Informative

      You don't need intact cells, but rather fairly intact nuclei. Nucleus is a more robust structure than the cell membrane, and I would't be surprised if we could find relatively intact nuclei in the tissue, depending on the amount of time that passed between the animal's death and the freezing of the body.

    13. Re:Turkey Baster.. by quizzicus · · Score: 1

      Assuming we could get intact DNA, have we ever cloned a living animal in the uterus of a closely related species? Beyond that, the hormonal and chemical environment created by the mother has a huge effect on a developing fetus. I wouldn't expect the clone to come out anything like its descendant.

    14. Re:Turkey Baster.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Technically, cell rupture occurs as a result of the thawing process, and is not related directly to freezing. Technically cell rupture occurs when water-ice crystals form at a cellular level under natural low-temperature conditions.... Imagine pretty snowflakes, then think of them from a cellular-scale persepective wherin they resemble nothing so much as a mass of sharp, glass-like, shurikens ... When the water in and around every cell turns into that, you get cell rupture and massive tissue destruction.

      Most cryogenic techniques focus on methods to control or eliminate crystal formation in the tissue (ie replacing as much water as possible with "anti-freeze" like solutions and/or using slow-freeze techniques to prevent directionalized crystal formation). With these factors in mind, it's not hard to see why we have difficulty with reversible macro-scale cryonics.

      Even the companies that will freeze you (or parts of you) for future "resurrection" stipulate that they're awaiting technologies (presumably nanotech) that would be required in order to repair the cellular damage done to the tissues by their comparitively primitive freezing techniques

      In any event, if you actually manage to freeze a macro-scale organism without massive cellular destruction resulting from ice-water crystals, you should prolly get a speech ready for the Nobel Comittee...

      -AC

      PS: Don't confuse macro-scale cryonics with the experiments being performed using newts, frogs and other amphibians that have been shown to utilise low-temperature metabolicic stasis for surviving winter: In these cases, it has been demonstrated that natural, anti-freeze-like chemicals in the blood and bodies of these animals act to prevent water-ice crystal formation so that the animals don't actually freeze-solid. Current thinking is that similiar techniques represent the closest we are likely to come to being able to extend/suspend life with cryonics. Macro-scale cryonic freezing such as this mammoth would probably have experienced, on the other hand, refers specifically to the complete solidification (freezing) of all tissues in a macro-scale organisim (ie massively multi-cellular). A circumstance which is generally considered impossible to recover from...
    15. Re:Turkey Baster.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Always blame it on the rock.

    16. Re:Turkey Baster.. by mr_overalls · · Score: 1

      Stories from Amazon tribes suggest that Megatherium may still be alive somewhere in the rain forest. . . http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2 007/07/08/MNG2IQSUCI1.DTL

    17. Re:Turkey Baster.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When cloning an extinct animal, one would look for the closest living relative, and for a mammoth, it would be an Indian elephant, not African. From wikipedia:

      Despite their African ancestry, they are in fact more closely related to the modern Asian Elephant than either of the two African elephants (as both Mammuthus and Elephas also originated in Africa). The common ancestor of both mammoths and Asian elephants split from the line of African elephants about 6 - 7.3 million years ago. The Asian elephants and mammoths diverged about half a million years later (5.5 - 6.3 million years ago).

    18. Re:Turkey Baster.. by Smauler · · Score: 1

      Also, the big fact you're not mentioning, is that homo sapiens probably helped with the extinction of these animals (though current scientific thought is that it was predominately climate change). We've almost a duty to help them back into existence.

    19. Re:Turkey Baster.. by kestasjk · · Score: 1

      5) Mammoth burgers.. seriously. If we really wiped these things extinct they might be very tasty, and what would be more marketable than a favorite human food that we haven't eaten in millennia.

      Cloning from DNA alone is still science fiction though, but it would be interesting.

      For a freak of nature experiment I'd like to see a human-chimpanzee hybrid. Apparently we're so closely related that we could interbreed, and I'd be very interested in what the hybrid would look like. It could have some interesting clues for anthropology.

      --
      // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
    20. Re:Turkey Baster.. by suv4x4 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The point of doing this, if it's even possible, would be some combination of these closely related reasons: (1) satisfying our curiosity about what these things were like, (2) giving a species a second chance to live, (3) creating something interesting that no living human has seen, and (4) profiting from building an Ice Age Park. Aren't any of those legitimate reasons?

      It's a question of perspective. We can't possibly mess with natural order since we're part of nature. If we separate ourselves from the rest of the animals, then absolutely everything we do messes with natural order, even breathing air in and out (we're stealing oxygen that belongs to nature!).

      There's a simpler guide: if we do it, would it result in a better (or neutral) situation for nature, and us, or worse?

      - Artificial ingredients in food that harms us: don't do it.
      - Artificial ingredients in food proven to not harm us: do it.
      - Genetically engineered food: it's again a case-per-case basis, no ultimate stance.
      - Revive ancient beasts: sounds like fun, what could go wrong? Are they gonna multiply overnight and take over the world?

    21. Re:Turkey Baster.. by fractoid · · Score: 1

      According to TFA, they can't because they need intact cells, and they'll all have burst from the freezing process. The only thing the freezing process will destroy is the baby mammoth's inner monologue...
      --
      Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
    22. Re:Turkey Baster.. by AxminsterLeuven · · Score: 1

      "Let this Abomination Unto The Lord begin!" - H. Farnsworth

    23. Re:Turkey Baster.. by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 1

      You ever seen a male african elephant? You'll need a lot more than a turkey baster!

      --
      stuff |
    24. Re:Turkey Baster.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i bet it couldn't withstand your stale joke. what an absolute fucking bore.

    25. Re:Turkey Baster.. by conureman · · Score: 1

      Number 4.

      --
      The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
    26. Re:Turkey Baster.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It might also have difficulty controlling THE VOLUME OF ITS VOICE.

      If true, the ultra-low frequencies elephants are known to emit (that I assume mammoths are also capable of) could potentially be very destructive...

  5. Cloning by wile_e_wonka · · Score: 1

    I've heard that scientists hope to extract DNA from a mammoth and then use that to make one (by means of a female elephant). I wonder if there are still scientists hoping to clone a mammoth, and if so, I wonder if this baby mammoth has some good DNA (to date, all known mammoths' DNA had degraded too much for use).

    1. Re:Cloning by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      Are mammoths and elephants even closely enough related for this to work? Wouldn't the body just detect the mammoth embryo (oxymoron) as a foreign substance and try to get rid of it. We have enough trouble with transplanting organs from the same species, I can't imagine you'd have much luck growing a fetus from one species in the womb of another species. Also, since the DNA specimens are so degraded, what's the chance that they could fill in the holes in the DNA with some other animal (possibly an Elephant) like they did in Jurassic Park. However, I think I'd have to recommend against using frog DNA.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    2. Re:Cloning by wile_e_wonka · · Score: 3, Informative
      No idea. However, I just googled: mammoth elephan cloning and found some interesting things to read on the topic. From the first result:

      October 17, 1999:
      A team of French, American, Dutch and Russian paleontologists successfully airlifted a male, 23 tonne (25 ton) woolly mammoth from its grave in Siberia where it had been frozen for 20,000 years. It was almost complete except for its head which had been exposed to air in the past. Since the species has been extinct for over 10,000 years, some scientists have proposed that attempts be made to breed a living mammoth from DNA, sperm or cell nucleus retrieved from the carcass. A modern elephant ovum would be used, because it is the closest living relative to the mammoth. This, sounds like the story I read about in which the scientists later decided the DNA was too degraded to use. As of the time I read the story the scientists were supposedly just hoping for a better specimen to come along. Perhaps they have one now.
    3. Re:Cloning by freyyr890 · · Score: 1

      From what I have read (can't remember the source), mammoth and Asian elephant are more closely related than the African elephant and Asian elephant. There has been at least one known African-Asian elephant hybrid, so it follows that mammoth and Asian elephant should be able to breed freely.

  6. Clone! Clone! Clone! by BillGatesLoveChild · · Score: 4, Funny

    Let's start a petition: I promised my kids a baby Mammoth ride.

    1. Re:Clone! Clone! Clone! by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 1

      I won't rest until I've eaten a McMammoth with extra fries.

    2. Re:Clone! Clone! Clone! by jamesh · · Score: 1

      Dammit... you beat me to it.

      Of course, the McMammoth would only come in a supersized variety, topped with a poached condor egg.

  7. probably no clones by vg30e · · Score: 1

    From what I have read about this find, there are probably no cells that haven't been destroyed from the freezing process that would help produce a clone of the animal, there is always hope that some may still be intact.

    1. Re:probably no clones by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      I won't accept that answer until they've spend 3 days examining each cell.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
  8. obligatory Dr Stephen Colbert... by owlnation · · Score: 4, Funny

    It seems the the Siberian mammoth population has tripled in the past 6 months...

    1. Re:obligatory Dr Stephen Colbert... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pfft... Steven Colbert could hype it better than that.

      "It seems the mammoth population in the today increased by INFINITY percent". By infinity we mean from zero to one. /stands up

      "That's right WE DID IT!!! Whooo!!!!" /cue balloon drop

  9. clone it by SolusSD · · Score: 2, Funny

    clone it. clone it! clone it!! what good is all this "science" if we don't CLONE IT!!!

  10. Why spoil the fun by Cracked+Pottery · · Score: 1

    Sure everyone expects the clone expert to generate the best dinosaurs since Noah's ark.

  11. Re:Double-Bonus Find! by paleo2002 · · Score: 1

    But wait, if "global warming" ended the last ice age and drove cold-adapted species to extinction, then either a) cavemen had cars (hence the GEICO ads) or b) "global warming" can be a natural phenomenon.

    I'm confused - we'd better ask Leonardo DiCaprio what he's been paid to think about all this!

  12. A question remains... by Digitus1337 · · Score: 1

    How should it be prepared? I'm sure whatever they decide, it will be delicious.

    1. Re:A question remains... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ridiculous. Now its all freezer burned.

  13. bad for future non-human paleozoologists by wikinerd · · Score: 1

    Not only humans made mamooths extinct, but we also unearth all of their remains so that the next intelligent species after our own extinction won't find any of them, at least not in good shape.

    1. Re:bad for future non-human paleozoologists by geekoid · · Score: 1

      they will find them laid out and properly identified, so really we're doing a service.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    2. Re:bad for future non-human paleozoologists by Smauler · · Score: 1

      1 : We didn't make the mammoths extinct. We killed a lot of them, but we killed a lot of elephants and other animals too.

      2 : What the hell are you suggesting? We don't excavate mammoth and other animal remains, so that someone else in the future does it better?

  14. God must have put it there by GrahamCox · · Score: 3, Funny

    God must have put it there just to drive fundamentalists crazy ;-)

    1. Re:God must have put it there by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      Anyone who believes in talking snakes probably is a little crazy... ;-)

    2. Re:God must have put it there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would finding a preserved mammoth drive fundamentalists (Christian?) crazy? I young Earthers would say that we should find things like this.

      You might find yourself more prepared if you actually understood what both sides of any argument are before opening your mouth. Good humor requires an element of truth, which made your joke flop.

    3. Re:God must have put it there by Mr.+Lwanga · · Score: 5, Funny

      TFA has a typo, its 4000 years old not 40,000. The mammoth will soon take its rightful place next to the Jesus horses at the Creation Museum.

    4. Re:God must have put it there by fimbulvetr · · Score: 1

      The only "element of truth" you're going to get from a fundy is maybe a nice new bible.

      We understand the sides:

      Science: No commitment yet, some theories. Gladly take proof or evidence contradicting our statements.
      Religion: Steadfast, unwavering beliefs. Outside of saying "god did it", no way or even motivation to account for many things.
      People who don't give a fuck: Yeah.

    5. Re:God must have put it there by fimbulvetr · · Score: 1

      I was kind of hoping the velociraptor could have more friends. It's sitting there pretty lonely next to Eve in all of those pics. It's unfortunate that original s(p)in happened, because now it can no longer munch on plants with those beautifully adapted plant-eating teeth.

      I mean, what name other than velociraptor conjures up images of a bird casually munching on a blueberry?

    6. Re:God must have put it there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      No, no - beautifully designed plant-eating teeth...

      - T

    7. Re:God must have put it there by megaditto · · Score: 1

      Harry Potter fans?

      --
      Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
  15. Ray Romano by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is that you ?

    1. Re:Ray Romano by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course not!

      It's Queen Latifah.

  16. it's not that mysterious what caused extinction: by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Informative

    us

    whenever mankind shows up, the slowly reproducing, tasty giant beasts and megafauna disappear, sometimes pretty quicky

    off the top of my head, it happened to

    the auroch

    the irish elk

    the moa

    steller's sea cow (wiped out in 30 years, go progress!)

    i'm sure slashdotters here could pull out a couple of dozen other examples

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  17. Re:Tom Dickson has a question: by phedre · · Score: 1

    I suspect it will blend, into a quite interesting mammoth smoothie, but Blendtec will probably have to come up with a much larger blender for Tom to use.

  18. Re:Wow, I need some vodka by jzeejunk · · Score: 0

    the russian joke doesn't end with profit in soviet russia the joke ends you, ok?

    --
    sarchasm
  19. Isn't it thawing? by Coward+Anonymous · · Score: 1

    Nobody in that video seems to be too concerned about the girl thawing and starting to rot. I'd expect it to rot in short order.

  20. Slow! by BigBadBus · · Score: 1

    This was reported on the internet super-crawl-way about 6 days ago!

  21. Intact by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 1

    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  22. Re:Wow, I need some vodka by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've got the answer to your question marks: Place baby mammoth in bottle with vodka, allow to infuse for about 1-8 weeks. PRESTO! Baby mammoth infused vodka!

  23. They found it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    in my pants.

    1. Re:They found it... by Lithdren · · Score: 2, Funny

      They found a frozen child in your pants?! Dear god someone contact the FBI.

  24. What the article didn't mention... by heretic108 · · Score: 5, Funny
    ...was the discovery, 5 metres away from the mammoth, of an inscribed granite slate. Archaeologists were set to work on translating the inscriptions, and came up with a bulletin with the headline:

    Climate Change A "Myth"
    Coming Ice Age a "Fabrication"

    -- Energy Company CEO
    --
    -- In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was UNSIGNED, and the main(){} was without form and void...
  25. No NO NO by geekoid · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    The Devil put it there because God is too weak to stop him.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:No NO NO by Unoti · · Score: 1

      No, it was God's Will not to stop him. Get with the program! The official line seems to be that God is omnipotent but chooses through His wisdom to never do anything, ever.

    2. Re:No NO NO by fimbulvetr · · Score: 1

      Ahh, lethargy, just what I look for in a god.

    3. Re:No NO NO by geekoid · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      That's not true.
      He has got off his ass plenty of times to kill children women, the old...well pretty much everybody.
      Plagues, floods....ahh Good time...good times.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  26. not really by AlgorithMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Baby Mammoth Found Intact
    except that it's dead...
    --
    The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
    1. Re:not really by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      No, no, she's uh ... she's resting.

  27. A Mammoth? by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 3, Funny

    A Mammoth? That's huge.

    1. Re:A Mammoth? by Walt+Dismal · · Score: 4, Funny
      Technically, it's not a Giant Baby Mammoth but the Economy Size Baby Mammoth, which feeds between 4 to 6 caveman families. Keep frozen until use. Do Not Refreeze.

      Oven Preparation Instructions:

      1. Place on large spit.

      2. Build really big fire.

      3. Keep Ugg, Son of Hoogah and his Sister Dimbo, away from fire.

      Microwave Preparation Instructions:

      (Hey, do you think we're stoopid? Cavemen didn't HAVE microwaves. They only had rotisserie cookers.)

      Microwave Mammoth NOT RECOMMENDED.

      For delicious mammoth recipes, write: Creation Science Cooking Institute, Atlanta, Georgia.

    2. Re:A Mammoth? by pragma_x · · Score: 1

      (reads instructions)

      Wow, that's so easy, even a caveman can do it!

    3. Re:A Mammoth? by CopaceticOpus · · Score: 1

      But is a baby mammoth really that huge? Well, I guess it's a little mammoth!

  28. Just to clarify by marcosdumay · · Score: 1

    The fact that it is old also works against the clonning...

  29. finally by devilradish · · Score: 1

    didn't we find a frozen male ages ago now we can clone them both, and while i spend my time on the internet reading slashdot so I'm not too familiar with the mechanics of it, get them to mate and produce a whole army of mammoths, for meat and pets and giant woolly steads to conquer siberia.

  30. COPY! Make that *dead* baby mammoth found... by jpellino · · Score: 1

    Dead as a doorknob, but yeah, otherwise intact.

    --
    "Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
    1. Re:COPY! Make that *dead* baby mammoth found... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, he's just pining for the fjords!

  31. sequencing might still be possible... by reversible+physicist · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Biologists are getting good at sequencing DNA very fast. This is done by breaking many copies of the DNA up into little overlapping pieces which are separately sequenced; then these overlapping subsequences are fit together, like a puzzle. A bunch of mostly intact DNA would be a lot like a bunch of mostly intact copies of the same puzzle. I would expect that it should be possible to get a completely correct sequence as long as the DNA in some of the cells isn't too badly damaged. They could also get a lot of help in this process from the sequences of close modern relatives. Synthesizing a complete undamaged copy of the DNA should eventually be possible. Maybe it could be done by doing search/replace using the diff's from a modern relative?

  32. Looks like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We have the new ubuntu logo!

  33. heartbeat by t35t0r · · Score: 1

    Dude what the hell are you trying to listen for ..there is no heartbeat it's been dead for 10,000+ years

  34. more pictures pls?? post links here. by rrobles · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I want to share this discovery with my children which are very interested in dinosaurs and past forms of life that populated the earth ages ago.

    I'd like to have more pictures than the currently released.

    If you find a good source of pictures please reply to this post. Thanks.

    I can tell that they are going to be very excited about this!!

    and they will ask me tons of questions! =:-|

  35. They will come to us! by Man+in+Spandex · · Score: 1

    It's ok! Believe me, they will discover something even better!

    The next intelligent species will find us and be amazed at how many human corpses they've found lying around next to an artifact with what seems to be a mice-shaped object in their hand. It might take them a while to guess what we were doing, unless Slashdot plans to be around by the year five million.

    1. Re:They will come to us! by feyhunde · · Score: 1
      The next intelligent species will find us and be amazed at how many human corpses they've found lying around next to an artifact with what seems to be a mice-shaped object in their hand. It might take them a while to guess what we were doing, unless Slashdot plans to be around by the year five million

      What do you think caused our extinction? Not Digg for sure...

      --
      I'd say more, but my guild is raiding.
    2. Re:They will come to us! by wikinerd · · Score: 1

      The extinction of the human species will come when a nuclear missile silo fires up all its warheads after its Micro$oft embedded OS crashes with a blue screen of death.

    3. Re:They will come to us! by Kadin2048 · · Score: 5, Funny

      The next intelligent species will find us and be amazed at how many human corpses they've found lying around next to an artifact with what seems to be a mice-shaped object in their hand. It might take them a while to guess what we were doing,

      I think what it has in its other hand will be a significant clue.

      --
      "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
  36. Obligatory John Varley Reference. by mikelieman · · Score: 1
    --
    Technology -- No Place For Wimps! Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Chatroom -- http://www.wemissjerry.org
  37. Sticking out of the snow... by skeftomai · · Score: 1

    The hunter initially thought the mammoth was a dead reindeer when he spotted parts of her body sticking out of damp snow.

    Why was it not buried deep in the snow/ground?

    (I do not mean to advocate anything, just would like to know).
    1. Re:Sticking out of the snow... by simong · · Score: 2, Informative

      The ice and permafrost will have melted and shifted a little recently to expose the body. This isn't to say anything about global warming as it's a fairly regular occurence in the trans-polar regions. Mammoths and lost mountaineers are lost and exposed all the time.

  38. Wonderful for science but... by hzero · · Score: 2, Funny

    Will it blend?

    (sorry, i just saw... never mind, my fault...)

  39. what's for dinner? by |Cozmo| · · Score: 0

    Sweet I'll fire up the grill.

  40. Weird coincidence by El_Oscuro · · Score: 1

    I was reading Clive Cussler's Polar Shift yesterday, which has a fictional discovery of a baby Mammoth in Siberia. Then, I click on my /. RSS feed today, and there it is as the first entry.

    In the book, I think they were planning to clone it with an elephant.

    --
    "Be grateful for what you have. You may never know when you may lose it."
  41. Re:Double-Bonus Find! by paleo2002 · · Score: 1

    Hmmm . . .

    A. Sarcastic humor. When replying to a funny post, one usually tries to also be funny. Or, so I've observed.

    B. Brevity. Because long posts aren't funny and nobody reads them. Or, so I've been told.

    C. Geology professor. At least, that's what my 20-50 students call me every semester.

    Snippyness aside, I have read up on the issue. Extensively. Climatology isn't my specialty, but I understand it enough to know its an incredibly complex field. I will never disagree that promoting energy efficiency, recycling, renewable energy, and large-scale reforesting endeavors are good things. But, I worry that scaring people into "going green" by declaring a climate crisis may backfire and seriously injure the credibility of all scientists. Its bad enough that FDA screw-ups are causing many parents to forego immunizing their children against serious diseases. Imagine what will happen if all of Earth science gets written off as a bunch of over-zealous, money-grubbing hippies.

    I really believe that we need more time and research before we declare ourselves the murders of Mother Earth. And, when I say research I don't mean surveys on environmental awareness and expeditions to take pictures of polar bears. I mean proper calibration of weather satellites so that they stop indicating cooling while ground stations measure warming, better correlation of the rock and ice core records with the Earth's 100Ka eccentricity cycle, and so on. There's still a lot to global warming that we don't understand entirely. If we promise people that buying a hybrid car will stop global warming and it doesn't, they're going to be upset. Torches-and-pitchforks upset.

    And don't even get me started on the utter disinformation and confusion that the well-intentioned, well-paid celebrity activists and politicians are spreading. How does not using plastic bottles fix the climate? How does biodiesel reduce carbon emissions? Who decided "clean" and "coal" should go in the same sentence? Why is that when the state geologist goes in and tells beach-front property owners that dumping a million dollars worth of sand in front of their house that they've built five feet from the high-tide line won't save them from the next storm, nobody listens? But, when some dim-witted celebrity bats their eyelashes at a camera and tells people that the Earth is dying, women swoon and grown men cry!

    Global warming is happening, most likely. I'm not yet convinced human activity is the sole cause and its arrogant and anthrocentric to assume that we are. The public should be educated about the Earth and the environment, not scared into action. We should cut back on carbon emissions because it makes the air clean and improves the economy, not to save the polar bears. People are more amenable to small steps with goals and results observable in their own lifetimes. Its bad enough our government is running on reactionary fear right now, I don't want to see science end up the same way.

    I knew I should have "does wooly mammoth taste like chicken?" joke . . .

  42. Well by rayk_sland · · Score: 1

    Instantly frozen in a historical world wide catastrophe aka the flood!

    --
    Jedis are stupid. If they were so powerful, why couldn't they handle counseling for a kid who missed his mom?
    1. Re:Well by LeadSongDog · · Score: 1

      Or just fell in a hole in the ice. Haven't you seen 'Ice Age'?

      --
      Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
  43. Re:IN SOVIET RUSSIA... by smittyoneeach · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but does Mammoth turn into Van Halen? That is the question.

    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  44. Dear mods, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    please stop modding funny posts you don't understand as trolls.

    1. Re:Dear mods, by Cosmic+AC · · Score: 1

      Exactly. It's a reference to the Chapelle show.

  45. Oh sure by sunking2 · · Score: 1

    As opposed to all of the ones they've found that have been neutered?

  46. Discovery Channel by DiscoNick · · Score: 1

    I remember the fuss they made over that mammoth DC recovered a fear years back. They were going to do all this DNA mixing with modern elephants yadayada, and still to this day I haven't heard anything else about it. Great that they found the mammoth baby, but at this point its boy who cries wolf when they claim they can potentially mix the DNA. No more false promises or "possiblies" until proven.

    1. Re:Discovery Channel by geekoid · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ou know it takes years to do that stuff, right?

      I dare you to find a quote that says they will do this, without sort of caveat like "If there is good DNA"

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  47. Re:Double-Bonus Find! by gomiam · · Score: 1
    I think I may answer this:

    How does biodiesel reduce carbon emissions?

    If your biodiesel completely comes from a self-sufficient production derived from vegetal matter, you certainly cannot make emissions higher. Since some of the carbon used by plants is unavailable on the next round, carbon dioxide concentration in air or water will go down.

    If you want references to back up my assertion, ask and I will try to comply. My central resource is written in spanish, but I think I can find other references in english. Unfortunately, I can't cite them right now.

  48. In Soviet Russia. ... (no, no YOU involved) by gomiam · · Score: 3, Interesting
    ...Pravda would have commented that the mammoth was so well preserved that the ones who found it were able to avidly eat its meat. And few would wonder what drives someone to eat raw unfrozen mammoth meat.

    With apologies to Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag archipelago".

  49. Re:it's not that mysterious what caused extinction by J05H · · Score: 1

    I know it's sick, but that list of critters made my belly rumble. Mmm... meat.

    --
    gigantino.tv - Heavy but weighs nothing.
  50. Blending? by camperdave · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    What's up with all the "Will it blend?" posts? Did Letterman invent a new game show or something?

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    1. Re:Blending? by The+Dotmeister · · Score: 0

      In first place let me welcome you to the beautiful Tubes that makes the so called Intarweb, Internet for short. Second, please refer to this site http://www.willitblend.com/. Third, enjoy your vacation on The Tubes.

    2. Re:Blending? by Smauler · · Score: 2, Informative

      For all those who know not of it : http://www.willitblend.com/

      "Will it blend" is old now, I'm wondering why it is appearing on slashdot at all. They've already proved that anything electronic will blend into a pile of grey dust, and yes, most other things will blend too. Though I refer you to this :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM94aorYVS4

    3. Re:Blending? by The+One+and+Only · · Score: 1

      Because yesterday, Slashdot had an article about whether or not iPhone will blend.

      --
      In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
  51. What about DNA? by phliar · · Score: 1

    What's the state of the art in DNA from recently extinct animals (like saber-tooth tigers and mammoths)? Are these animals firmly placed in current cladistic taxonomy? Are there still cool things to be learned from their DNA?

    --
    Unlimited growth == Cancer.
  52. Baby Mammoth found intact by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I say forget the mammoth, but send some of that tact over to slashdot, where it's sorely needed.

    I'm just playin' nerds, you know I love ya.

  53. fossil DNA sequencing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Probably no clones, but this will still give researchers a wealth of information. It's very likely the genomic DNA can be sequenced, maybe even fully. There was one study that was able to sequence the genomic (as opposed to the much more resistant mitochondrial) DNA of two 40 000 YO cave bears. It could also be that in the future we will be able to clone just from the sequence information, although this would be quite some time away.

  54. Re:it's not that mysterious what caused extinction by Smauler · · Score: 1

    whenever mankind shows up

    You mean we've showed up before? I am interested in your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter

  55. Bill Clinton by SnarfQuest · · Score: 1, Funny

    On viewing the dead baby mammoth, Bill Clinton stated that he was impressed with its beauty, and wanted to have a date with it.

    --
    Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
    1. Re:Bill Clinton by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On viewing the dead baby mammoth, Bill Clinton stated that he was impressed with its beauty, and wanted to have a date with it.

        And thus his mighty member destroyed Siberia, as it had previously done to America. Tim Russert could not be reached for comment, as he was in the bathroom for a long time and told others they were not to come in, and would have to wait until the latest "Great Clinton Scandal" was "finished."

  56. Re:Double-Bonus Find! by Smauler · · Score: 1

    I don't think you can get through to people with long winded posts any more. People just want quick bullet points. Here are two :

    Carbon Dioxide is rising, hugely in our atmosphere

    Carbon Dioxide does contribute to global warming.

    Now, you can pontificate all you like, but those are facts - no scientist at all denies those. What some scientists claim with regards to global warming is the amount of carbon dioxide produced by humankind is insignificant comparative to the amount produced naturally. I'm not a climate scientist either, all I know for certain is the first 2 points. I personally believe that we are causing CO2 rises in our atmosphere.

  57. Re:Double-Bonus Find! by Smauler · · Score: 1

    The trouble is, the amount of land required to replace petroleum is immense. Look, for example, at countries like the UK. There is nowhere near enough land to grow fuel on - if you haven't been to the UK, it's basically all food farmland or towns and cities now. By growing fuel crops, you will cut into the food crops, and require food to be imported.

    That being said, my parents grow trees and chop them down and use them for heating. Wood burning is essentially carbon neutral when you plant more trees. They've got more land than most though, though nothing substantial.

  58. Sorry.. Had to do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    IN SOVIET RUSSIA... baby mammoth eats you!!

  59. octosquid + baby mammoth = yummy by SoyChemist · · Score: 1

    As we read this, some restaurant in Los Angeles is preparing to offer pan seared baby siberian mammoth with macadamia crusted Hawaiian octosquid.

  60. eww by Twiceblessedman · · Score: 1

    That would be some nasty freezer burn :(

  61. Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Their genes can and do carry deceases we're not familiar with. Probably not resistant to Penicillin though.

    1. Re:Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only diseases that can be carried in host dna are proviruses, and those certainly would be resistant to penicillin since it targets bacteria.

      They're highly specialized however, so very unlikely to affect humans. Might prove nasty to elephants, though.

    2. Re:Well... by suv4x4 · · Score: 1

      Their genes can and do carry deceases we're not familiar with. Probably not resistant to Penicillin though.

      Yup, I've seen that X-Files episode too :D

      But thinking that mammoths aren't that far back in the history of the world, and they stopped existing (not us), I think nothing majorly bad would happen out of this (if it was the case).

  62. Re:Double-Bonus Find! by gomiam · · Score: 1
    The interesting thing about biodiesel, according to its proponents, is that you can use badland vegetation to create it. The UK would still be an importer, but the range of providers could be much greater. I can think of some places in the world with very low useful yield (areas of Africa and Australia come to mind).

    Then again, all this relies on biodiesel production being self-sufficient in the long term. I won't talk about whether it can be, though I have read some texts that point to it being achievable.

  63. Re:Double-Bonus Find! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Carbon Dioxide is rising, hugely in our atmosphere

    Carbon Dioxide does contribute to global warming.


    - Carbon Dioxide is rising from a local minimum.

    - Carbon Dioxide rised every time there was a warm period. Cause and effect are still being argued.

  64. I, for one, welcome our Demonic Overlords by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All hail the devourer of worlds!

    PS where's the old words for him gone? Did he outgrow "Scrotch"?

  65. Re:it's not that mysterious what caused extinction by iktos · · Score: 1

    So mammoths tasted better or reproduced slower than for example elephants? Bears taste good but don't seem to have been generally hunted into extinction even where humans appeared suddently.

    But yes, mammoths may have been easier to hunt than elephants as they hadn't time to adapt to better and better human hunters.

  66. Re:IN SOVIET RUSSIA... by Rockin'Robert · · Score: 0

    No.

    Both remain dinosaurs.

    RR

  67. Re:Double-Bonus Find! by Ours · · Score: 1

    Spain as a provider for fuel sounds much safer to me then Iraq, Iran etc...

    --
    "You superiour intellect is no match for our puny weapons" - The Simpsons
  68. Re:Double-Bonus Find! by paleo2002 · · Score: 1

    Carbon Dioxide is rising, hugely in our atmosphere Carbon Dioxide does contribute to global warming. - Carbon Dioxide is rising from a local minimum. - Carbon Dioxide rised every time there was a warm period. Cause and effect are still being argued.

    See, this is exactly what I'm talking about. The first two statements are simple facts. The second two statements are also true but appear to conflict with the first two because they are less simple. The average person looks at this tiny slice of the climate debate and comes away confused or disinterested.

    So, either scientists censor themselves in public and turn climatology into a series of dogmatic t-shirt slogans or we use the current interest in climate change as an opportunity to teach people about the Earth and improve science education. Then maybe we will be able to clone up some wooly mammoths!

  69. No cloning is possible from this specimen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    TFA says that for cloning, you must have intact cells. Since Lyuba's (the mammoth's) cells were all burst as a result of cold (the corpse being embedded in permafrost), no cigar this time.

  70. Re:Double-Bonus Find! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Assuming you mean "badland(s)" as in the kinds of dry arid regions around the world, using that vegetation would be a very bad idea, if the goal is future growth and sustainability of the planet. The way to reclaim a desert is to plant vegetation. Small vegetation at first, until it can support larger forms. Beautiful lands have been reclaimed from the deserts in a relatively short time span (~50 years).

    It takes concentrated effort, and a strong desire to see it happen, and in much of the United States, at least, this is not happening. But when it is ready to happen, it's MUCH easier going from "badlands" to arable land than from desert to arable land.

    -M

  71. that's a good point by circletimessquare · · Score: 2, Informative

    i would respond with qualifiers:

    1. the megafauna i'm talking about would be the herbivores
    2. the megafauna in the cold climates/ on islands are for more vulnerable than those in the tropics: easier hunting. there are also less food choices in cold climes. and slow reproducing island species are extremely vulnerable to extinction just by being small in number to begin with

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:that's a good point by operagost · · Score: 1

      So I suppose natural selection is bad when it comes to humans? Are we special or just naked apes? Come on!

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    2. Re:that's a good point by spasm · · Score: 1

      ..however according to the bbc version of the article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6284214 .stm), the very last mammoths died out only about 5,000 years ago - ones from Wrangel Island, north east of Russia

  72. No mammoth left behind? by tbone1 · · Score: 1

    A six month old, frozen, abandoned mammoth? Where were the parents?

    --

    The Independent: Reverend Spooner Arrested in Friar Tuck Incident - ISIHAC, Historical Headlines
  73. Re:Double-Bonus Find! by smeette · · Score: 1

    But then, where would the UK get its tomatoes from?

  74. Misleading title? by shutupkevin · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Am I the only one who thinks the title of this article should've been "Baby Mammoth REMAINS found Intact?" I was so mislead :)

  75. Cool! by krunchyfrog · · Score: 0

    They finally found my cousin!

    wait..

    --
    printf($randomline(sigs.txt) \n "-- "$randomline(authors.txt));
    -- myself
  76. Re:Double-Bonus Find! by gomiam · · Score: 1
    ...using that vegetation would be a very bad idea, if the goal is future growth and sustainability of the planet.

    It would be a very bad idea if you don't intend to replenish it, of course ;-) I never meant to go and raze the area.

  77. Re:Double-Bonus Find! by gomiam · · Score: 1

    Don't worry, there is space for both here in Spain. And then there's always Morocco, just a jump (for some values of jump) away.

  78. Well, there's always... by Mariner28 · · Score: 1

    Well, there's always "never even evolved".

    Actually, according to Creationists, that's pretty damn near everything - so I guess for them it's "well done"!

    --
    "A little misunderstanding? Galileo and the Pope had a little misunderstanding."
  79. If they manage to clone them, then ... by Stooshie · · Score: 1

    ... I for one would welcome our enormous, cold, wooly mammoth overlords.

    Sorry, it had to be done!

    --
    America, Home of the Brave. ... .and the Squaw.
  80. Re:it's not that mysterious what caused extinction by goarilla · · Score: 1

    what about the dodo

  81. Mammoth Farming by KevinGlenRoyGreer · · Score: 1
    I wonder if it would be economically viable to farm mammoths for their ivory and meat? Mammoth tusks are much larger than elephant tusks (16' vs 10') and so would provide an excellent source of ivory. There wouldn't be any trade restrictions on Mammoth ivory because Mammoth's aren't endangered, they're extinct! This would help elephants by reducing the incentive to poach them. Mammoth meat probably tastes very good given that humans ate them into extinction.

    Links:

  82. Whippersnapper by benhocking · · Score: 1

    Back in my day, we had to type words into Google and then wade through dozens, possibly hundreds of web-sites to get the answer we wanted!

    --
    Ben Hocking
    Need a professional organizer?
  83. Re:it's not that mysterious what caused extinction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How true. There was a massive extinction of larger animals in North America 10,000 years ago, coincident with a new migration of people across the Siberian land bridge. Giant sloth, cave bear, sabertooth, mastodon, etc. were wiped out. Many claim this was just a coincidence, but I'm not buying it. Try a visit to the La Brea tar pits (my favorite bilingual redundant name) and see if they are still claiming these extinctions had nothing to do with PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals).

  84. Simpler explanation by benhocking · · Score: 1

    Most of the megafauna are also those that didn't co-evolve with humans.

    --
    Ben Hocking
    Need a professional organizer?
  85. Re:it's not that mysterious what caused extinction by HiThere · · Score: 1

    I *really* doubt that saber-tooth tigers were tasty. That's not the reputation that cats have.

    I suspect that people contributed to the extinction of those animals (and of other less spectacular species) not only by eating them, but also by carrying diseases that they had not co-evolved with. Also, in the case of the saber-tooth, e.g., by competing for the same food supply. (Mammoths, perhaps. One of the recorded ways of hunting mammoths is to set a grass-fire and stampede a herd over a cliff.)

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  86. Re:it's not that mysterious what caused extinction by DougWebb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There was a massive extinction of larger animals in North America 10,000 years ago, coincident with a new migration of people across the Siberian land bridge. Giant sloth, cave bear, sabertooth, mastodon, etc. were wiped out.

    Also coincident with the end of the ice age environment these species were adapted to. The humans back then probably scavenged more than they hunted; easy pickings.

    Also, one has to wonder why the buffalo, the moose, and the deer, which replaced the ice age herbivores in North America, weren't wiped out by human over-hunting. They seem a lot easier to kill than mastodon. Maybe it's because humans didn't start over-hunting other species until we developed guns?

  87. Re:it's not that mysterious what caused extinction by DerangedAlchemist · · Score: 2, Informative

    what about the dodo

    That's well known. Pigs and dogs brought by people ate them and their eggs. Slow flightless birds made easy targets. People tried eating them, but found they weren't very tasty.

  88. Re:it's not that mysterious what caused extinction by operagost · · Score: 1

    whenever mankind shows up, the slowly reproducing, tasty giant beasts and megafauna disappear, sometimes pretty quicky
    The average slashdot troll is a slowly reproducing (VERY SLOWLY=never) giant beast, and they are still here. Must not be tasty.
    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  89. Re:it's not that mysterious what caused extinction by goarilla · · Score: 1

    i know but still the giant irish elk is also a very famous example if you've ever opened a child's book about
    extincted species, and many kids have since everybody loves dinosaurs

    but i always thought it were solely the people of the netherlands who were responsible for
    the demise of the dodo race, since well to be frank ... they have no taste when it comes to food imo

  90. I feel sorry for the mammoth by corifornia · · Score: 0

    The girl in the photo is gazing lovingly at the butthole and some old guy is listening to its penis. What kind of zoologists are they!?

    --
    crap.
  91. A special refrigerator by corifornia · · Score: 0

    [...] scientists were called in and transported the body to regional capital Salekhard, where she is now being kept in a special refrigerator.

    I believe it used to belong to Jeffrey Dahmer. Guess what you're in for you delicious little Dumbo.
    --
    crap.
  92. 40,000 year old intact human? by peter303 · · Score: 1

    Ozzie was preserved pretty well frozen too, but is only 5000 some years old, slightly older than the oldest desert mummies. Maybe global warming will reveal a human who fell into a crevice and froze to death tens of thousands of years ago. One of side-effects of global warming.

  93. ObYoda by Rikardon · · Score: 1

    When 40,000 years old you reach, look as good you will not!

  94. What caused their extinction? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I believe the extinction of mammoths was caused by the near passage of a planetary body that caused an abrupt alteration in atmospheric pressure and temperature, and slipped the Earth's mantle around. Look into it.

  95. Moderator abuse by BeanThere · · Score: 1

    This CANNOT POSSIBLY be a troll - this is "-1 I don't agree with you".

  96. Re:it's not that mysterious what caused extinction by ady1 · · Score: 1

    1. Greek Gods
    2. Cobol Programmers
    3. Managers... Oh a guy can dream, can't he?

  97. You do know who Solyenitsin was, right? by jotaeleemeese · · Score: 1

    And why he was in that place, don't you?

    --
    IANAL but write like a drunk one.
    1. Re:You do know who Solyenitsin was, right? by caluml · · Score: 1

      Yep. Sure, he wasn't there for a holiday, but he could have kept his chin up, and made a go of it? :)

  98. Re:it's not that mysterious what caused extinction by MonkeyCookie · · Score: 1

    I suspect that mastadons had a harder time hiding from people, reproduced at a much slower rate than the other animals, and had issues with their food supply relating to the change of climate at the end of the last ice age (they no doubt required a lot of food to survive). That combined with steady human predation no doubt drove them to extinction. However, I don't think humans were the primary cause of mammoth extinction. I imagine that if they reproduced as quickly as horse or deer, and ate much less food, they would still be around today.

    What I find strange is that horses became extinct in the Americas, but not in Eurasia. I don't see any cause for that to happen.