
As an ecologist of ice age giants, I long ago came to terms with the fact that I will never look my study organisms in the eye.
I will never observe black-bear-sized beavers through binoculars in their natural habitats, build experimental exclosures to test the effects of mastodons on plants, or even observe a giant ground sloth in a zoo.
As a conservation paleoecologist, I study the natural experiments of the past—like climate change and extinction—to better understand the ecology of a warming, fragmented world. Admitedly, part of the appeal of the ice age past is the challenge of reconstructing long-disappeared landscapes from fragments like pollen, tiny fragments of charcoal, and bits of leaves preserved in lakes. In the absence of mammoths, for example, I rely instead on spores of fungi that once inhabited their dung.
De-extinction could change that. On Friday, a group of geneticists, conservationists, journalists, and others convened in Washington, D.C. to discuss resurrecting extinct species, including the woolly mammoth. De-extinction sounds like science fiction, but it’s rooted in very real conservation concerns. With the sequencing of the woolly mammoth genome complete and recent advancements in biotechnology, the question of whether to clone extinct species like mastodons, dodos, or the Shasta ground sloth is rapidly becoming more of a question of should, rather than how. The latter isn’t straightforward, and involves the integration of a number of cutting edge disciplines, but I’d like to focus on the former: should we clone woolly mammoths?
A growing problem I’ve had (and one which Brian Switek raises in a recent post at National Geographic) is that the de-extinction proposals are Big Ideas, but they they’re often shallow when it comes to ecology. Even the concept of “de-extinction” itself is misleading. Successfully cloning an animal is one thing; rescuing it from the black hole-like pull of extinction is another. Decades of conservation biology research has tried to determine the careful calculus of how many individuals and how much land are needed for a species to survive without major intervention, accounting for its needs for food, habitat, and other resources.
Mammoths have been extinct on continents for over ten thousand years (though dwarf versions survived into the time of the ancient Egyptians on isolated Arctic islands). Even so, the fossil record has yielded rich clues about ecology. All ethical considerations aside, from a conservation biology standpoint, what does it mean to be a mammoth?
The Latest Bing News on:
Cloning Woolly Mammoths
- 3D genome extracted from "freeze-dried" woolly mammothon July 18, 2024 at 5:30 pm
About 52,000 years ago, the skinned hide of a Siberian woolly mammoth was exposed to conditions so frigid that it spontaneously freeze-dried, locking its DNA fragments into place.
- woolly mammothon July 17, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Russian scientists say they have a ‘high chance’ of cloning a woolly mammoth Woolly mammoth blood and tissue discovered in Siberia in 2013 will give scientists “a high chance” to clone the ...
- 3D Genome Extracted From 'Freeze-dried' Woolly Mammothon July 10, 2024 at 5:00 pm
A Japanese team is looking at cloning woolly mammoths, while a group in the United States is aiming to create genetically "mammothized" elephants. Within the skin, "96 percent of genes are ...
- The Last Stand of the Woolly Mammothson June 26, 2024 at 5:01 pm
By Carl Zimmer For millions of years, mammoths lumbered across Europe ... between populations so they can interbreed, for example. Cloning might provide another way to help species recovery.
- Dallas Biotech Firm Takes 'Significant Step' Toward Recreating Woolly Mammoth from Asian Elephant Stem Cellson March 7, 2024 at 7:58 am
Now that the stem cells have been identified, scientists will be able to use cloning techniques to manipulate ... much a resurrection of the exact woolly mammoth that went extinct 4,000 years ...
- Of Mammoths and Menon December 27, 2022 at 1:15 am
Ancient hunters killed woolly mammoths for their meat ... soft mammoth tissue in hopes of finding viable cells to clone. (See “Bringing Them Back to Life.”) A few years ago this local boss ...
- Recipe for a Resurrectionon April 21, 2020 at 11:09 am
Talk of cloning surged again a few weeks later when ... Transforming this data into a woolly mammoth will be far trickier, though the existence of close living relatives, the African and Asian ...
- Will the woolly mammoth be lumbering back?on January 22, 2011 at 3:56 pm
It died out around 8,000 years ago…but in just five years the woolly mammoth could soon be walking the Earth again ... The revival requires a sample of intact DNA for cloning purposes and an elephant ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Cloning Woolly Mammoths
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Cloning Woolly Mammoths” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”] [/vc_column_text]The Latest Bing News on:
De-extinction
- Early humans likely prompted the demise of woolly mammoths and other ancient species: Studyon July 24, 2024 at 11:03 am
Early humans may have played a significant role in the demise of one of the most iconic ancient species -- the woolly mammoth -- and others like it, scientists say.
- Real-Life Biotech Firm Petitions Star Trek's Federation on Reddit to Change Galactic Lawon July 23, 2024 at 10:38 am
You can read the text of their application to the Federation below.
- Fifteen Years Of Elasmobranchs Trade Unveiled By DNA Toolson July 20, 2024 at 3:00 am
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - MAY 11 ... Examining both national and international extinction risk status lists, alongside key conservation and labeling legislation, researchers propose the implementation ...
- Meryl Streep to Narrate Conservation Doc ‘Escape From Extinction Rewilding’ (EXCLUSIVE)on July 19, 2024 at 12:38 pm
Three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep will lend her voice to narrate the sequel to the 2020 award-winning documentary “Escape from Extinction.” Directed and produced by Matthew Brady through MRB ...
- ‘Fanatic’ Extinction Rebellion founder gets record jail sentenceon July 18, 2024 at 2:11 pm
Only two of the protesters jailed on Thursday – Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, 34, and Cressida Gethin ... the elite from putting enough carbon in the atmosphere to send us to extinction.” Roger Hallam at ...
- The race to save the ‘holy grail’ of amphibians from extinctionon July 18, 2024 at 9:44 am
Researchers are fighting against time and environmental threats to protect the false toad, one of Chile’s most enigmatic frogs.
- These are the top 10 emojis in danger of extinction: studyon July 17, 2024 at 7:57 am
Today, Wednesday, July 17, is World Emoji Day — a completely made-up annual holiday and the only date that has its own emoji, displayed in the 📅 calendar emoji. Emojis are a vital part of ...
- Program: De-extinction, pt 1on July 16, 2024 at 5:01 pm
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work.
- Revolutionary technique reconstructs the 3D genome of the woolly mammoth, bringing de-extinction one step closeron July 11, 2024 at 10:34 am
The ‘chromosome fossils’ from a female who died 52,000 years ago in Siberia have opened a window to a world still unknown to science ...
- Hope for woolly mammoth ‘de-extinction’ after DNA from frozen 52,000-year-old remains found – including ‘giant foot’on July 11, 2024 at 7:02 am
SCIENTISTS have sequenced a woolly mammoth’s genome and chromosomal structures for the first time in history. The feat, published today in Cell, is also the first of its kind for any ancient ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
De-extinction
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