# Largest now extinct land animal living since invention of writing **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 15, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707 "2022-08-15T18:23:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2022, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/22 "2022-08-16T22:01:04Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > So the Aurochs are being slowly bred back but on the cutting edge of science side is the serious attempt to bring back mammoths using African Elephants as the host mother. Aren’t Indian elephants more closely related to them, though? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2022, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/23 "2022-08-16T22:28:59Z")
As cool as it would be to see a real live woolly mammoth, I would _far_ rather all that money and effort be used to protect actual endangered elephants _right now_. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2022, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/24 "2022-08-16T22:36:39Z")
Possibly the science used to recreate the mammoth would teach us things that would help elephants. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/25 "2022-08-17T01:29:45Z")
What would help elephants is to kill the poachers, stop the black market for ivory, and to stop destroying their habitat. None of which require any new science. Just basic policework, legitimate land registries, and imprisoning a few corrupt fatcats in a few places. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/26 "2022-08-17T11:22:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Aren’t Indian elephants more closely related to them, though? That’s my reading. Maybe the size helps? I suppose they could still use an Asian egg for the closer mitochondrial DNA. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/27 "2022-08-17T14:45:52Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > What would help elephants is to kill the poachers, stop the black market for ivory, and to stop destroying their habitat. None of which require any new science. Just basic policework, legitimate land registries, and imprisoning a few corrupt fatcats in a few places. Zactly. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/28 "2022-08-17T15:01:04Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > As cool as it would be to see a real live woolly mammoth, I would _far_ rather all that money and effort be used to protect actual endangered elephants _right now_. I’ve been intrigued about ideas to establish elephants (and other fauna) in North America. Increasing the geographical extent of species is a great way to make their extinctions less likely. But there’s obvious risks as well. > **[Pleistocene rewilding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_rewilding)** > > Pleistocene rewilding is the advocacy of the reintroduction of extant Pleistocene megafauna, or the close ecological equivalents of extinct megafauna. It is an extension of the conservation practice of rewilding, which aims to restore functioning, self-sustaining ecosystems through practices that may include species reintroductions. > Towards the end of the Pleistocene era (roughly 13,000 to 10,000 years ago), nearly all megafauna of Eurasia, Australia, and South/North America, dwindled toward... ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707/29 "2022-08-18T21:16:58Z")
Here’s a book I enjoyed on this topic: _Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive History’s Most Iconic Extinct Creature_, by Ben Mezrich. While I agree that it makes far more sense to help elephants, Mezrich’s book does make some interesting points about how the mammoth’s former biome would be improved (in the sense of making it more habitable for the animals living there currently, or who used to live there and aren’t extinct) by bringing these creatures back. Also, the science is fun to read about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-now-extinct-land-animal-living-since-invention-of-writing/969707.md?page=1)