# Mammoth DNA! Can Mammoth Burgers Be Far Behind? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 18, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208 "2005-12-18T22:02:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/1 "2005-12-18T22:02:56Z")
One can only hope. There’s a [BBC article on this](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4535190.stm), but because of errors on the page, I can’t get it to load. I did, however, find this [story from an Indian publication](http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1002877&CatID=5) which has the information. > [@](#): > > In a world first, German scientists say they have reconstructed a key sequence in the genome of the woolly mammoth, enabling them to show that the extinct beast’s closest modern relative is the Asian elephant. > > Reporting in Nature researchers say they devised a new technique for the feat, teasing out DNA from just 200 milligrams of bone found at a mammoths’ graveyard in the Siberian permafrost. > [@](#): > > In this case, the closest relative today to Mammuthus primigenius is the Asian elephant rather than the African elephant, the researchers say. The difference, though, is not great. So, it looks like all we need is some mad billionaire with a cloning lab and we can have McMammoth joints on every corner!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/2 "2005-12-18T22:21:45Z")
I can’t wait for Pleistocene Park to open. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/3 "2005-12-18T23:11:42Z")
> [@Spatial Rift 47](#): > > I can’t wait for Pleistocene Park to open. 😃 Oh sure, it sounds great on paper. Verdant landscapes filled with herds of mammoths and ground sloths and cave bears and sabre-toothed tigers, but just wait! You’ll go on the ride and the little train will break down in a storm and then you’ll discover the fine print behind the _Staff Wanted_ sign at the entrance: _you’re_ the fill-ins for the Beringia Man exhibit, and you’ll have to don fur robes and undergo some totally-inadequate spear training, and they’ll never get around to answering your queston of where did the last players go, and then you’ll be out there alone on the tundra. And then you’ll hear a growl from behind you. And you’ll try to run, but it won’t make any difference. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/4 "2005-12-18T23:36:44Z")
Why does my mind flash to Gary Larsen’s “Far Side?” The one with the upside-down mammoth with a single spear sticking out of it, and one caveman saying to another “Maybe we’d better write that spot down.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/5 "2005-12-18T23:42:29Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Oh sure, it sounds great on paper. Verdant landscapes filled with herds of mammoths and ground sloths and cave bears and sabre-toothed tigers, but just wait! You’ll go on the ride and the little train will break down in a storm and then you’ll discover the fine print behind the _Staff Wanted_ sign at the entrance: _you’re_ the fill-ins for the Beringia Man exhibit, and you’ll have to don fur robes and undergo some totally-inadequate spear training, and they’ll never get around to answering your queston of where did the last players go, and then you’ll be out there alone on the tundra. > > And then you’ll hear a growl from behind you. > > And you’ll try to run, but it won’t make any difference. I should’ve known there’d be a catch. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/6 "2005-12-18T23:45:53Z")
Now I can’t get the Flintstone’s theme song out of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/7 "2005-12-19T00:08:28Z")
Cool article and findings. > [@](#): > > enabling them to show that the extinct beast’s closest modern relative is the Asian elephant. However, I wonder if this finding finally puts to rest the common misconception that the Mammoth’s closest relative was the Monarch Butterfly. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/8 "2005-12-19T00:28:48Z")
Speaking of Mammoth burgers, there are lots of stories about mammoths being found encased in ice, thawed out, and eaten. According to Wikipedia they are [bullshit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammoth#Preserved_remains), but it’s still a cool story. I’m disappointed to find out it’s rumor, though; I recall reading it in one of my textbooks in grade school, and ever since I’d had the idea that there were flash-frozen mammoths here and there and maybe one day I’d get to eat a mammoth steak. Sigh. Another sliver of magical childhood lore hacked away by the Internet. Image link: [Mammoth found in ice in Russia about 100 years ago](http://hanskrause.de/images/HKHPE%2012/image015.jpg). I’m not eating that. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/9 "2005-12-19T00:52:28Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > Speaking of Mammoth burgers, there are lots of stories about mammoths being found encased in ice, thawed out, and eaten. According to Wikipedia they are [bullshit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammoth#Preserved_remains), but it’s still a cool story. > > I’m disappointed to find out it’s rumor, though; I recall reading it in one of my textbooks in grade school, and ever since I’d had the idea that there were flash-frozen mammoths here and there and maybe one day I’d get to eat a mammoth steak. Sigh. Another sliver of magical childhood lore hacked away by the Internet. > > Image link: [Mammoth found in ice in Russia about 100 years ago](http://hanskrause.de/images/HKHPE%2012/image015.jpg). I’m not eating that. Now wait a minute. I recall a _Northern Exposure_ episode where Joel found a mammoth but someone else ate it before the University folks could arrive. Surely that couldn’t be a lie. and sorry for calling you shirley ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/10 "2005-12-19T01:10:48Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > Speaking of Mammoth burgers, there are lots of stories about mammoths being found encased in ice, thawed out, and eaten. According to Wikipedia they are [bullshit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammoth#Preserved_remains), but it’s still a cool story. > > I’m disappointed to find out it’s rumor, though; I recall reading it in one of my textbooks in grade school, and ever since I’d had the idea that there were flash-frozen mammoths here and there and maybe one day I’d get to eat a mammoth steak. Sigh. Another sliver of magical childhood lore hacked away by the Internet. > > Image link: [Mammoth found in ice in Russia about 100 years ago](http://hanskrause.de/images/HKHPE%2012/image015.jpg). I’m not eating that. It might be BS, but it’s certainly within the realm of possibility. I was watching a program on this Texas millionaire who’s trying to track down mammoth DNA so that he can make a Pleistocene Park and one of the things that they did was dig up Inuit caches of walruses from hundreds of years before and the meat was still edible (though not particularly tasty). And there’s [oral legends](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=148825) of mammoth hunts? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/11 "2005-12-19T07:22:41Z")
Read closer. They managed, though no small amount of effort, to sequence 5,000 base pairs. Of the mitochondrial DNA. They didn’t even touch the nuclear DNA. For comparison’s sake, the human genome is roughly 3 BILLION base pairs. There’s just a wee bit more work to do. Don’t fire up the grill just yet. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/12 "2005-12-19T07:30:54Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Read closer. They managed, though no small amount of effort, to sequence 5,000 base pairs. Of the mitochondrial DNA. They didn’t even touch the nuclear DNA. > > For comparison’s sake, the human genome is roughly 3 BILLION base pairs. > > There’s just a wee bit more work to do. Don’t fire up the grill just yet. Yeah, but they were able to do this using a totally new technique, extracting DNA in a state that they weren’t able to do prior to this. Next, they discovered that there’s not that much difference between mammoths and Asian elephants, so they _could_, _possibly_, take some Asian DNA, tweak it a bit, and we’d have our brand new woolly mammoths all ready for grillin’! ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/13 "2005-12-19T09:29:26Z")
Mammoth burger, eh? I was 16 and on a high school choir trip out west and at some diner, the specialty was Buffalo Burgers. So the waitress was taking orders…rubes from Illinois, the members of the high school choir orders came in: Buffalo Burger, Buffalo Burger, Buffalo Burger, Buffalo Burger, Buffalo Burger until they got to me. “Could I have a Buffalo Burger - with cheese?” This struck everybody as very funny and became the running joke for the rest of the tour. So…I would like a Mammoth Burger, with cheese…I just have to figure out which cheese would go best… ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/14 "2005-12-19T15:52:08Z")
I’m not sure we’d be eating mammoth burgers anyway. I mean, elephants are not an animal we eat, or would eat if they weren’t endangered. At least I wouldn’t. It would be like eating a dog. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/15 "2005-12-19T15:55:50Z")
Is it really that difficult? Isn’t there a number of existing mammoth corpses that have been recovered mostly intact and frozen? Shouldn’t it be possible to get mammoth DNA from those frozen cells? For reasons of my own I have a huge emotional investment in bringing mammoths back. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/16 "2005-12-19T18:43:07Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Yeah, but they were able to do this using a totally new technique, Are you referring to the “multiplex polymerase chain reaction” they talk about in the linked article? That’s not exactly a huge breakthrough. It just means they’re doing more than one PCR reaction in the same tube, so they can increase the amount of product from a given amount of original DNA. My lab offers, oh, a dozen or so clinical tests using this technique, and has offered them for at least five years. Just because the reporters haven’t heard of it doesn’t mean it’s new. At most, it’s just the first time it’s been used for this purpose. > [@](#): > > Next, they discovered that there’s not that much difference between mammoths and Asian elephants, so they could, possibly, take some Asian DNA, tweak it a bit, and we’d have our brand new woolly mammoths all ready for grillin’! That’s not what they said. They said that the mammoth appears to be more closely related to Asian elephants than African elephants. They’re more closely related to mice than to rice plants, too, but that doesn’t mean you can “tweak” mouse DNA to get a mammoth. If you took the 5,000 base pairs they sequenced and put them into an Asian elephant, you’d end up with an Asian elephant. Even if they want to “plug the holes” with Asian elephant DNA (to use the horrible, horrible analogy from Jurrassic Park), they have a long, long, long way to go. And, really, the point of this work was not to get the genome for cloning purposes, it was to gain information on the evolutionary history of the mammoth, which they did. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/17 "2005-12-19T22:23:15Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Are you referring to the “multiplex polymerase chain reaction” they talk about in the linked article? That’s not exactly a huge breakthrough. It just means they’re doing more than one PCR reaction in the same tube, so they can increase the amount of product from a given amount of original DNA. My lab offers, oh, a dozen or so clinical tests using this technique, and has offered them for at least five years. Just because the reporters haven’t heard of it doesn’t mean it’s new. At most, it’s just the first time it’s been used for this purpose. Possible, though with the sketchy details of the article it’s hard to say for certain. They may have tweaked the proceedure in some manner. Presumably, the _Nature_ on the study would have more information. > [@](#): > > That’s not what they said. They said that the mammoth appears to be more closely related to Asian elephants than African elephants. They’re more closely related to mice than to rice plants, too, but that doesn’t mean you can “tweak” mouse DNA to get a mammoth. Ah, but did you see the part where it mentions that they’re roughly as close to Asian elephants as we are to our simian ancestors? So you’re analogy is a bit off, I think. Given that we’re ethically prohibited from tweaking simian DNA to try and make a human or humanzee, this might provide more information on that whole 2% difference between us and apes. > [@](#): > > If you took the 5,000 base pairs they sequenced and put them into an Asian elephant, you’d end up with an Asian elephant. Even if they want to “plug the holes” with Asian elephant DNA (to use the horrible, horrible analogy from Jurrassic Park), they have a long, long, long way to go. > > And, really, the point of this work was not to get the genome for cloning purposes, it was to gain information on the evolutionary history of the mammoth, which they did. And did you miss the part where I said that we needed a mad billionaire with a genetics lab? I never implied that this is something that little Suzy could whip up in the kitchen, and I certainly don’t think that your average research lab is going to want to take the time or the money to clone mammoths, since they’re not going to see any point to it. That’s why you need someone with lots of money and _vision_, like that Texas billionaire who’s trying to find a way to clone them for an amusement park. Now, if we can only find one with an appetite for exotic foods, we _might_ be in business. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/18 "2005-12-19T23:31:47Z")
Related to the Asian Elephant? Damn. There goes my flamingo theory. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/19 "2005-12-20T00:07:14Z")
Personally, I don’t care for elephant burgers all that much. I don’t see how mammoth burgers would be all that much of an improvement. Now elephant ear on a bun, that’s to die for! Only problem is, the restaurant is usually out of freaking buns! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208/20 "2005-12-20T21:27:50Z")
[This just in!](http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/20/nmammoth20.xml) > [@](#): > > 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. > > \*\*The team says it could take as little as a year to finish the estimated 2.8 billion-letter code that provides the genetic wherewithal to create the animal. > > Scientists in Japan and Russia have announced plans to attempt to clone woolly mammoths with the help of living relatives and, despite scepticism that they will be successful, today’s work will renew interest in the idea.\*\* > > Dr Stephan Schuster of Pennsylvania State University, one of the team that announced the new work in the journal Science, said last night that it may also be possible to genetically alter an elephant to turn it into a mammoth. (emphasis mine) Yes! Yes! Yes! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mammoth-dna-can-mammoth-burgers-be-far-behind/336208.md?page=2)