I don’t know if that’s true. It would have some instincts that are probably different than an elephants, and there would be certain elephant behaviors that were outside its possible repertoire of behaviors.
Almost certainly the could. It might take a little artificial insemination, but these are long-lived, slow breeding animals that didn’t split off from each other that long ago.
No, that’s not the generally accepted hypothesis. But even if it was, my point would still be valid. And note that I said we were at least part of the cause. There would be no way to predict if mammoths would have become extinct without the presence of humans, so saying they were on their way out is not a scientific statement.
It’s my understanding that there’s a pretty clear correlation between humans moving into a new area, and that area’s megafauna being made extinct. Humans are just too good at killing large creatures whose main defense is that they’re really big, and megafauna are just too convenient a food source.
I would hope we’d place the animal in a climate where it could live without having to be shaved. Assuming we’d want to view it, we should see it in all its splendor.
The proper care of elephants, whether in zoos or on nature preserves, is hugely controversial, and we’ve had thousands of years of interaction and observation with them. Elephants are long-lived, intelligent animals with complex social and emotional as well as physical needs. (See, for starters, Unforgettable Elephants | Elephant Emotions | Nature | PBS) We don’t know how a mammoth would compare, but I wouldn’t view it in the same light as bringing back an extinct strain of plankton or maize. I’m not keen on subjecting an animal to decades of suffering because it would be “cool.”
Hey, why let the Christian’s have all the moralizing fun?
True. Animals can go extinct because humans have outcompeted with them for food or otherwise disrupted their food supply or changed the local ecosystem.
I think we should, if anything to iron out the procedure so in case some other species goes extint in our watch it can be brought back in the near or far future.
Just imagine if a few hundred years from now we find ourselves in an imperative need to bring back humpback whales to avoid Earths destruction… Ok, I’ll stop being so geeky here.
There are quite a few species that have gone or are in the brink of extintion, the Yangtze river dolphin, monk seals, West African black rhino, etc. Some have passed away in the last few decades, we may still be able to recover DNA from specimens.
Also it would be possible to collect genetic material from critically endangered species today, so in the even of an inevitable extintion it could be attempted to reintroduce the species in the future where (hopefully) the environmental conditions have improved.
It would be like a test tube Noah’s Ark to get through an ecological crisis.
Of course we should clone them. We should do it because we can. Because we might learn something interesting. Because it would be cool. Besides, if things don’t work out, we can always make them extinct again.
I want a quagga, some dodos, passenger pigeons, heath hens, and Steller’s sea cow next.
We’ve been to the moon and back again. We have explored the depths and the heights. Now, we are poised to accomplish miracles beyond nature herself! We can reach out to that far shore and call back a vanished species! Ancient wonders can walk this world once more! An you ask if we should? We MUST! There is no going back. There is only on and on to new heights, to new greatness. Let me hear the thunder of mammoth’s tread! Let me see them trumpet! Let us create another miracle in the name of science!
While theoretically we could bring them back if we could obtain a sample of DNA that could be reconstructed.
Brief aside. I believe the issues with contaminated and degraded samples is only a very temporary hurdle. If we don’t currently have enough processing power to sort out the full sequence, we will in short order.
So after having come up with their gene map we decide to hatch out a few samples. They could never exist outside a sealed environment. Link. The current levels of oxygen in the atmosphere just won’t support a creature that size having a passive respiratory system. Of course, them not being able to survive in the wild is a good thing in the event that a breeding pair or a pregnant female ever escaped.
Why bring back the dodos, passenger pigeons, and other recently extinct species? I don’t buy that we owe it to them because we were a significant cause for them to die off in the first place. Species have been dieing off throughout history. Sure, there’s a cool factor to it, but what of it? They’re certainly not going back to their former ecological nitches. Those were paved over to build a new Starbucks.
Not true! Not in all cases, anyway. Pigeon Mountain is still sitting there (relatively) undisturbed in north Georgia, just awaiting the return of the flocks.
I think it’s a great idea, not just because we’re living in the Future and should be able to do these things, but because of the innumerable scientific benefits to all mankind- just as the space race led to advances in technology, advances in cloning technology will (hopefully) led to improvements in medical science and other beneficial areas.
