Scientists Successfully Clone Mammoth
This could very well be the next headline in all of the scientific journals. Recently a Japanese team of scientists at the Riken Center for Development Biology successfully cloned a mouse with the DNA that was acquired from a mouse that had been dead and frozen for 16 years.
This paves the road for cloning other animals that have been extinct, but found in the frozen permafrost in Siberia. The same Japanese team of scientists have also cloned a embryo from freeze dried cells, the next project to work on for them is attempting to clone the now-extinct Japanese wolf from a stuffed specimen.
For a coincidence this all happened the same day as the author of ”Jurassic Park”, Michael Crichton lost his battle with cancer. Cells from dead bodies in the past have been useless as normally they are ruined in the freezing process. But Wakayama’s team discovered a way to extract a nucleus intact from a frozen cell by grinding cell tissues into multiple pieces.
The cloned mouse went on to reproduce with a female mouse successfully. To revive a mammoth, researchers would need to find a way to implant a cell nucleus of a mammoth into the egg of an elephant and then implant the embryo into an elephant’s uterus, Wakayama said. The wooly mammoth stood 12-feet tall, and weighed up to seven tons and had a shaggy dark brown coat that hung from its belly, with large tusks.
DNA was extracted from a well-preserved 27,000-year-old specimen found in the Siberian permafrost. So far, about 30 million “letters” of the genetic code have been read, albeit in small pieces, representing around one percent of the entire code.
So now a question of morality comes to mind. The extinct animals became extinct for a reason, is it right to bring species that became extinct naturally back into existence? I have no disagreements with it, but as far as eating cloned animals such as cows. I am against that. I would like to know the thoughts of some of the readers of Charles Hamel.com on this subject.
Until next time take care all!
P.S. Sorry about the linkbait! >:->
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Hey Charlie
Very thought provoking article.
I believe that the mammoths became extinct because of a drastic climate change that dried up their source of food.
They were unable to travel far enoungh to find a new source of food before they all got too weak and starved to death. What a pity.
I would like to see them cloned and made viable again, and put the first cloned copy in the Asahiyama Zoo right here in Asahikawa!!!
Can you imagine what a boost to tourism that would be???
AWESOME!
Also, I like your new favicon. It is much easier to see than the old one. And also thanks for putting a permanent link to my new web site on your top page.
See you again soon.
Norman D.
http://www.everythingjapan.net
Thanks for the great comment Norman, and you are welcome for the link.
As far as a mammoth here at the Asahiyama Zoo, just think what would happen. Tourism would go through the roof. More traffic, people would capitalize on the tourism by moving here and setting up shop. Property prices would go up, and it would get more crowded.
Ehhhhh second thoughts lets put the mammoth at another zoo…
Glad you like the new favicon, I have been tweaking the site a bit, and have some more ideas yet to implement.
Take Care and Hope to see you soon.
P.S. Got a Snowboard Bag…. helmet next and I am done! Just need more snow…. or we could always hike up Asahidake’s trail near the ropeway and come down a little, I am sure we could find some easy spots where I could practice. But I need some snowshoes!
Hi! First time on your blog and I like this article.
I wonder if the Mammoth is successfully born, will it be able to attempt to the current warm temperatures on earth? Or would we see genetic evolution… that is the Mammoth and subsequent Mammoths that live on in the present time, shed their fur coats and live like the elephants?
However, isn’t it a lot of space required to house this humongous furry creature?
I wonder….
I have no problem with reviving the extinct animals, it would add much to human history…
Great comments on this story.
Sherx you raise an interesting question.. Would the cloned version evolve into a regular large elephant eventually, proving that it was meant for the mammoths to go extinct or evolve.
blackzero85 I agree, I think that if we have the ability to bring back animals, then we should… Some of the creatures that are in danger add to the life cycle of things. It could be beneficial to us and the earth to bring some species back.
Michael Crichton certainly left a thought-provoking legacy. Everyone’s time comes to leave this world. You can be animal, vegetable, mineral or, something else. Lessons are learned at your pace. You have infinite opportunities to share your own lessons with others. Some people d this through stories. You are only limited by your own sense of imagination.
Liara
You are the queen of thought provoking. I love it when you leave comments, because it makes me approach the subject from a different angle of thinking.
Glad to have you as a friend, and I don’t know what I did to deserve you.
The day that a mammoth comes back alive, is when I know that scientist are crazy enough to bring back dinosaurs and think they can control them. Tasers won’t work on those big guys!
No… What happened was, they survived the Ice Age. And our ancesetors killed them.
They’re finding remains of Mamoths with spears/arrow heads all over North America, and I’m sure they’re finding the same thing in Europe.
Did you guys know about the Moas that existed in New Zealand until all the immigrants wiped them out?
Yeah… Humans are wonderful! Blame everything on climates, when we’re always killing animals for no reason. We’ve grown intelligent enough to not have to feast/prey on lessser intelligent creatures. It’s wrong – and you guys wonder why aliens never show up around here…
Thanks for the great comment Kegan, It is really nice to have a intelligent comment that creates a dialogue instead of the normal spam.
Take Care
Canda has lots of empty space and people who would surely love to care for these animals in their original wild habitat in the far north. There is lots of food for them and they could set up a wild life preserve easily. Lets clone them and a few thousound other animals that HUMANS have already extincted.
This very informative, If this is true then there is a possibility that some extinct animals be alive again.
I really dont think that we should mess with gods creations!! If mammoths are extinct leave them that way! Just like that other comment about bringing dinasours back, or even humans, thats seems to me like something that should just be left alone and the way it is.
Why are you opposed to eating cloned cows? What’s the difference? People are opposed to eating genetically altered foods, such as corn. This is ignorance. There is absolutely nothing wrong with such food stuffs. They are merely altered genetically so that they are resistant to certain diseases and insects.
I never knew that you didn’t have to pay finance fees for payday loans. My friend Joe from Cali sent me to this site http://www.nfoblogs.com/pbk.html that gave me a free guide on how it works. This is better than getting a bank loan because even they make you pay some type of fees, but not with this technique.
Well Harvey, I don’t believe science can accomplish that which God wishes for us not to accomplish. God set down laws… the Laws of Physics. Its the only logical end to this problem when you believe in an omnipotent God who has a perfect will. I say if it doesn’t injur people, and doesn’t present a danger of injuring people, and we CAN do it, then there is NO reason that we shouldn’t. Besides, we have every reason to believe the extinction of Mammoths is OUR fault anyway. So we aren’t defying God’s will, we are correcting our ancestors past mistakes.
I guess that was more for payday..lol my mistake
I don’t beleive that if they are cloned, that it would be in our lifetime… Its highly doubtable.
I believe its very much possible. Remember, the progress of science is not linear, it is logarithmic. For example from Archimedes attempts at flight, to the Wright brothers was some 2100+ years, but from Kittyhawk to the Moon was just 66. Likewise, Craig Venter was told it would be impossible to decode the human genome, as it would take (by the estimates of the day) centuries. Venter said 15 years. After 7 years, they had completed just over 1%. In the next 6 years they decoded the remaining 99%. We can expect to make more progress in genetics in the next 15 years than we have in all of history to this point.
Hm…Interesting article. I can see the pros and cons of it all, and believe that “God” has anything to do with us. Well, on the one side it’s amazing that we can finally bring back that what we ourselves (the human kind) have destroyed, but then on the other hand with such an enormous human population that grows by the minute, and expands their living grounds as if though there’s no limit will bring the question of “What land will the “new-old” animals occupy, and will it effect our living grounds?” “Will we be able to expand as much?” “How much risk is involved in it all for the human kind?” and so on and so forth. Keeping a mammoth at a zoo would be cruel, “unnatural” and potentially dangerous. Although I would LOVE to see all the animals our ignorant race has destroyed come back, but I think the mammoth would only last as another “Fad”, or would be harvest for its fur and tasks, and the large quantity of meat. As for the other extinct animals being “revived”, the scientists must first study where these “new-old” animals will live, and whether or not they will disrupt the already living communities of animals.
This is awesome, it will be interesting to bring back the mammoth and see how it livs, what it ate, its daily habits, its complete geonome, its reproductive cycle, family interations, and the habits of the present day elephant might be more akin to the mammoth than we think, who knows we might be raising mammoths for pets, their long hair to make coats, rugs, erc., their meat and milk as well as their ivory, very intersting, who knows we might have an ice age park as well as a jurassic park, would love to visit both, ca’t wait
After reading the comments here I have to say that it is very refreshing to find a blog about a niche where the topics stay on point about the industry. I’m not everything, but the majority is on point and beneficial. Keep it going.
There is a private herd of buffalo (bison) near my town, and they sell the meat in the supermarkets. It’s pretty good. I’m thinking the mammoths might be tasty as well. Furthermore those tusks are huge and could be sold for quite a bit in asia. In short, revived mammoth herds could save modern elephants from extinction by poaching for their tusks. Plus the mammoths could live on ranches in the northern less populated areas of Siberia, Alaska, and Canada.
After reading the cave bear saga of Jane Auel’s, I would have to say I am more than willing to look upon these magnificent creatures. I truly believe we can learn much from them them. On the other hand where do we draw the line? i’m on the fence.