Sign up with GoogleAt first this news seems something to celebrate, after all resurrecting a lifeform is quite an achievement, but then I wonder.
Why create a mammoth first ?
When it is a cold climate adapted specie and we are in an interglacial phase, which is set to last a few thousand years yet. (unless seriousely anomalous weather is expected in the shorter term, due to space weather or unusual movement of the galactic bodies.)
Mammoths are hardly a sustainable specie to resurrect if current medium term climate projections are correct.
(However if an unexpected little ice age is on the cards - it is not a bad choice - providing food, fuel and resources in the form of skin, bone and ivory)
I understand that the mammoth has only been extinct for a short time, and that genetic samples are available, but of all the creatures, why resurrect this particular animal?
If you could choose an extinct animal to resurrect, and genetic samples were available, which animal would you choose ?
The Cape Lion
Panthera leo melanochaitus
is a subspecies of lion that is now extinct.
Cape "black-maned" Lions ranged along the Cape of Africa on the southern tip of the continent.
Its stronghold was Cape Province, in the area around Cape Town.
One of the last Cape Lions seen in the province was killed in 1858.
Photos of stuffed Cape Lions in Europe museum
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Mammoth factoids:wiki
- The word mammoth comes from the Russian мамонт mamont, probably in turn from the Vogul (Mansi) language, mang ont, meaning "earth horn".
- Based on studies of their close relatives the modern elephants, mammoths probably had a gestation period of 22 months, resulting in a single calf being born.
- Their social structure was probably the same as that of African and Asian elephants, with females living in herds headed by a matriarch, whilst bulls lived solitary lives or formed loose groups after sexual maturity.
Why create a mammoth first ?
When it is a cold climate adapted specie and we are in an interglacial phase, which is set to last a few thousand years yet. (unless seriousely anomalous weather is expected in the shorter term, due to space weather or unusual movement of the galactic bodies.)
Mammoths are hardly a sustainable specie to resurrect if current medium term climate projections are correct.
(However if an unexpected little ice age is on the cards - it is not a bad choice - providing food, fuel and resources in the form of skin, bone and ivory)
I understand that the mammoth has only been extinct for a short time, and that genetic samples are available, but of all the creatures, why resurrect this particular animal?
If you could choose an extinct animal to resurrect, and genetic samples were available, which animal would you choose ?
The Cape Lion
Panthera leo melanochaitus
is a subspecies of lion that is now extinct.
Cape "black-maned" Lions ranged along the Cape of Africa on the southern tip of the continent.
Its stronghold was Cape Province, in the area around Cape Town.
One of the last Cape Lions seen in the province was killed in 1858.
Photos of stuffed Cape Lions in Europe museum
__________________________
Mammoth factoids:wiki
- The word mammoth comes from the Russian мамонт mamont, probably in turn from the Vogul (Mansi) language, mang ont, meaning "earth horn".
- Based on studies of their close relatives the modern elephants, mammoths probably had a gestation period of 22 months, resulting in a single calf being born.
- Their social structure was probably the same as that of African and Asian elephants, with females living in herds headed by a matriarch, whilst bulls lived solitary lives or formed loose groups after sexual maturity.
