Resurrecting the Mighty Mammoth, Cheaply

somanyrobots writes with an interesting followup in the New York Times to the earlier-reported substantial reconstruction of the woolly mammoth genome: "Scientists are talking for the first time about the old idea of resurrecting extinct species as if this staple of science fiction is a realistic possibility, saying that a living mammoth could perhaps be regenerated for as little as $10 million. The same technology could be applied to any other extinct species from which one can obtain hair, horn, hooves, fur or feathers, and which went extinct within the last 60,000 years, the effective age limit for DNA." (The Washington Post article linked from the earlier post was much more skeptical, calling such an attempt "still firmly the domain of science fiction." The New York Times article, while describing the process in similar terms, also calls attention to recent advances in sequencing DNA, as well as recoding DNA for cloning.)

Comments

Why not bring them back

[pinguwin]

It's far from certain that mammoth died out simply from climate change. Take a look at this link: http://packrat.aml.arizona.edu/Journal/v37n1/vartanyan.html Mammoth survived thousands of years beyond what most people think, into historic times (1700 b.c) It was a place that man didn't reach (hmmm...coincidence?), but Wrangel Island was too small to support a large population of them. It seems that wherever man went, large animals encountered "climate change". I don't doubt that climate was an issue, but nor do I doubt that man was either.

Save the dodo, extinct the coelacanth.

[HTH NE1]

What about the Dodo? Any bits left?

Save the dodo, extinct the coelacanth.

"If the Universe came to an end every time there was some uncertainty about what had happened in it, it would never have got beyond the first picosecond. And many of course don't. It's like a human body, you see. A few cuts and bruises here and there don't hurt it. Not even major surgery if it's done properly. Paradoxes are just the scar tissue. Time and space heal themselves up around them and people simply remember a version of events which makes as much sense as they require it to make.

"That isn't to say that if you get involved in a paradox a few things won't strike you as being very odd, but if you've got through life without that already happening to you, then I don't know which Universe you've been living in, but it isn't this one."

"Well, if that's the case," said Richard, "why were you so fierce about not doing anything to save the dodo?"

Reg sighed. "You don't understand at all. The dodo wouldn't have died if I hadn't worked so hard to save the coelacanth."

"The coelacanth? The prehistoric fish? But how could one possibly affect the other?"

"Ah. Now there you're asking. The complexities of cause and effect defy analysis. Not only is the continuum like a human body, it is also very like a piece of badly put up wallpaper. Push down a bubble somewhere, another one pops up somewhere else. There are no more dodos because of my interference. In the end I imposed the rule on myself because I simply couldn't bear it any more. The only thing that really gets hurt when you try and change time is yourself."

-- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Douglas Adams

Re:Harmony never existed

[Anonymous Coward]

By "harmonious" you must mean "plans and executes a massive attack on American soil resulting in massive losses of life and property".....

By all estimates, nuking Japan not only saved countless American lives (the only ones that matter in war) but also likely saved countless Japanese, since they would most likely have fought to the very last man otherwise.

Re:Harmony never existed

[roguetrick]

Oh yes, Japanese culture was so harmonious before they got nuked. The occupations of Manchuria and Vietnam were happy frolics. Their soldiers just gleefully raped the Nanking Chinese as nature intended.

Jesus, I don't know if you're deluded or an idiot.

Re:Harmony never existed

[E 99]

Tell that to the american indians. They had a pretty harmonious culture.

You mean the 1,000 nations with cultures based on perpetual warfare with one another, the largest of which established the largest-scale assembly-line operation of human sacrifice in recorded history, and who as a group hunted to extinction almost not only the American species of Mammoths, but nearly all the indigenous mega-fauna in the Americas? Those American Indians?

Re:$10,000,000, eh?

[JRGhaddar]

Resurrect the species will take a lot more than just two...Inbreeding probably won't be good for the species.

But I think everyone is missing the point.. they said anything about 60,000 years ago.... Well that opens the doors for some kick ass revivals. let's not just do a mammoth.

Here is my short list

Dire Wold - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire_Wolf
Big Wolf

Diprotodon - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diprotodon
Big Marsupial

Smilidon - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smilodon
Giant Sabre Tooth Tiger Lion Thing

Haast Eagle - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haast's_Eagle
Giant Eagle

Giant Moa - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinornis
Big Ostrich

Aepyornis - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aepyornis
Even Bigger Ostrich

Arctodus_simus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctodus_simus
GIANT BEAR - (Don't Tell Colbert)
43% bigger than Grizzly

For a pretty comprehensive list of what might be available see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_extinctions