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Resurrecting the Mighty Mammoth, Cheaply

Posted by timothy on from the when-faster-and-cheaper-are-synonymous dept.

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.)

3 of 322 comments (clear)

  1. Why not bring them back by pinguwin · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  2. Re:Harmony never existed by E++99 · · Score: 5, Informative

    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?

  3. Re:$10,000,000, eh? by JRGhaddar · · Score: 5, Informative

    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