# Family trip: Safari, Bronx zoo, aquarium...or cloned woolly mammoth? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 2, 2003, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-trip-safari-bronx-zoo-aquarium-or-cloned-woolly-mammoth/192469 "2003-08-02T00:32:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-trip-safari-bronx-zoo-aquarium-or-cloned-woolly-mammoth/192469/1 "2003-08-02T00:32:09Z")
Yes, the mammoth trumps all. After all, who wouldn’t go to see a cloned, [previously extinct animal?](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3075381.stm) > [@](#): > > Specimens of the animal discovered last year have arrived at Kinki University’s Gifu Science and Technology Centre in western Japan. > > “The bone marrow, skin and muscle specimens, frozen in nitrogen liquid… look fine. We first have to confirm whether these are really of a mammoth,” said the centre’s president, Akira Iritani. > > The DNA may be damaged and not good enough for cloning, as the remains are believed to be 200,000-300,000 years old, he said. I would. I suppose questions include… Is it ethical? After all, bringing back woolly mammoths from a frozen era, into today’s fast-paced McWorld? The mind boggles. What happens when the mammoths have to face down the elephants? Look their tropical brethren in the eye all the while wondering why the hell they couldn’t make it while these wussy bags of flesh could? Does the nintendo generation really CARE about the mammoth? Or are mammoths and saber-toothed tigers just side exhibitions on their way to see the dinosaurs? I can just imagine the toddlers’ expressions at the mammoth zoo, when their parents tell them that there are no dinosaurs; that this is IT. In Power Rangers, the mammoth was the most moronic ranger of them all. Where to keep them? Giant refrigerators? And the ethical question again. Is it ethical to keep adorable penguins in the same cages as the mammoths? I know we’re a long way off from seeing the mammoth. But would you go to see one, if it wasn’t too far away and the expense was no more than a subway ticket, or a few gallons of gas? I know I would. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-trip-safari-bronx-zoo-aquarium-or-cloned-woolly-mammoth/192469/2 "2003-08-02T04:47:37Z")
While I think it would be really neat, these were/are ice-age animals. There’s no ice-age at the moment, so they’d have to spend their whole lives in climate controlled zoos, or else be even more miserable than we are without air-conditioners in the summer. Unless they shaved them. A mammoth wool sweater would really be a conversation piece 😃 ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-trip-safari-bronx-zoo-aquarium-or-cloned-woolly-mammoth/192469/3 "2003-08-02T14:24:37Z")
Well, yes, but once you seen one woolly mammoth, you’ve seen them all. I’m going with the safari. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-trip-safari-bronx-zoo-aquarium-or-cloned-woolly-mammoth/192469/4 "2003-08-02T14:30:01Z")
I don’t find this in the least bit unethical. As long as you clone two or three of them, so the first one doesn’t get lonely. I reckon release a few in Alaska or Siberia. And then make some sabre-toothed tigers. I want one for my back garden! ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-trip-safari-bronx-zoo-aquarium-or-cloned-woolly-mammoth/192469/5 "2003-08-02T15:25:17Z")
one could have them roam the south pole. that would be interesting. a herd of woolly mammoths and a nerd herd of scientists.