Oh, I don't think Mammoths should be released. But you could make an argument for the Tasmanian Tiger or the Passenger Pigeon. Something that existed recently and fit in our ecosystem until people killed them all.
Scientists plan to clone Woolly Mammoth
- Thread starter Dream
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I'd be all for creating mimmoths!
Hm, I wonder how Passenger Pigeons would do as a game species now. With little to no market hunting in America, it could really take off with the wing shooting community. I assume they'd taste something like Eurasian collared doves?
Well, that's how they died off in the first place. But I suppose we could constantly clone them to bring them back.*
I'm pretty sure there are regulations (or prohibitions) on the selling of hunted meat given uncertainties about health and source, so market hunting wouldn't change due to Passenger Pigeons. Recreational hunting is actually quite popular. I suspect some people would hunt them, but not perhaps as many as used to. Would make sense for those who have moral qualms about shooting deer but aren't all that impressed with goose hunting. They're relatively small, so they don't make much of a trophy.
* Note, I don't seriously think this is a good idea.
I don't see any difference between this and breeding other animals in captivity for study. And the knowledge gained could be very useful for helping bring back endangered species from the brink of extinction.
That last part is something I've been thinking. If the Tiger, for example, became extinct, it would be nice to try and reintroduce them into the wild. This would give us some knowledge and practice in this regard.
Now, my problem is this. How do we know that a cloned mammoth will act the same as the extinct ones?
I mean, sure, animals are far more instinct driven than humans. Most can walk shortly after they're born for instance. While human babies are more or less helpless. But animals teach their young too. Whats gonna happen when there are no other mammoths around? We cant just depend on genetics.
I think we've all heard of genetic memory. But while i find it incredibly interesting, as far as i know this was never proven to be true or false.
I mean, sure, animals are far more instinct driven than humans. Most can walk shortly after they're born for instance. While human babies are more or less helpless. But animals teach their young too. Whats gonna happen when there are no other mammoths around? We cant just depend on genetics.
I think we've all heard of genetic memory. But while i find it incredibly interesting, as far as i know this was never proven to be true or false.
Well, they could study the mammoth anyway though. Like, what food it prefers, what diseases it's prone to, its sleeping patterns, how it reacts to the weather, etc.
Alright, I'll bite. But how do we know its accurate? Do we have anything to compare it too?
I'm not trying to pick a fight, mate. Just saying. Take it the other way then. Would we learn everything about humanity if we studied a single human being. Say a female? Would we learn how human males act too? What food they prefer, how they react to the weather or their sleeping patterns?
Not everything, but some things yes I would say.
I agree with you here. Studying an animal bred and raised in captivity would give you no idea how it would act in its natural habitat when raised by its own parents. As you say a lot of stuff is instinctive to animals but not knowing the natural behaviour of the animal would you think an ape in captivity is acting the same as an ape in the wild? For that matter are apes in the wild acting how they do naturally since we put so much pressure on them and change their behaviour in the way we've shaped their habitat even without actively capturing them.
Hybrid animals produced by crossing two species such as mules or ligers generally are sterile, but not always. Female mules are occasionally, but rarely, fertile, whereas female beefalo (bison/cattle hybrids) are often fertile. The fertility problems come about because of different numbers of chromosomes. In the case of mules, horses have 64 chromosomes and mules have 62. This difference means that the chromosomes can't pair properly during meiosis, and therefore they can't produce functional gametes. Bison and cattle both have 60 chromosomes.
Now, back on topic...the proposed mammoth clone wouldn't be a hybrid in the same sense. All the nuclear DNA would be mammoth DNA, but the mitochondrial DNA would be from an elephant. In my lab, we currently have cattle, sheep, and goat cloning projects going on, and I can tell you that even though these species are all closely related, especially sheep and goats, we can't use sheep oocytes to clone goats, or cow oocytes to clone sheep, and so forth. The oocytes and nuclear DNA must be matched. I don't know how close elephants and mammoths are. They have different numbers of chromosomes, so they aren't the same species. A true crossbreed would probably be sterile. I don't know how compatible the mitochondrial DNA would be, but I suspect it would probably be a problem.
Thanks for the explanation! You should teach Biology.
