Today is a good day to die.
I didn't say for whom.
Posted on 02/01/2011 11:47:26 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Japanese scientists believe they have the technology and know-how to create a living woolly mammoth, a clone of a species that died thousands of years ago.
Finding a fully intact frozen woolly mammoth isn’t enough, it seems. Now, a professor at Kyoto University in Japan is planning to bring the species back from extinction through cloning, reports the AFP. Dr. Akira Iritani plans to insert the nuclei of mammoth cells into a modern elephant’s egg cell, creating a woolly mammoth embryo that will be brought to term by an elephant mother. The elephant was chosen because it is the nearest modern relative to the mammoth. Woolly mammoths died out during the last ice age, more than 5,000 years ago. Iritani thinks he can resurrect one in five years.
The key is soft tissue. Unlike older extinct species like the dinosaur family, scientists have been able to dig up entire frozen mammoth carcasses in Siberia, most of which still have soft tissue with cells containing DNA. The key breakthrough is a new technique that allows the scientists to extract DNA from frozen cells. Previously, frozen cells were thought to be too damaged (by the freezing process) to use for things like cloning.
“If a cloned embryo can be created, we need to discuss, before transplanting it into the womb, how to breed (the mammoth) and whether to display it to the public,” Iritani said. ”After the mammoth is born, we will examine its ecology and genes to study why the species became extinct and other factors.”
There is debate among the science community how exactly mammoths went extinct. Some believe that humans hunted the creatures to extinction while others believe that climate change did the furry elephants in. Let’s just hope that all of these scientists give Jurassic Park a watch before they start completing the mammoth genetic codes with frog DNA.
Would you pay to see a living woolly mammoth?
Yes, we’ve known for centuries that banty hens make excellent incubation mothers. Just stick some eggs under them and they’ll sit there and go cluck cluck cluck in slow motion for the month it takes ~
Homo erectus vs the woolly mammoth. TEE HEE
I will speculate that the foreign nucleus will be pounced on by the elephant immune system
Serious, are they hot? I’ve debated renting that movie.
Great, like they need another reason to FLEE THE CITY!!
The original with Raquel Welch of course.
I don’t think that will happen.
The egg’s mitochondrial DNA is still going to be elephant. I may be mistaken but I do think that means all of the surface proteins of the implanting egg will still be elephant.
So this brings to mind the question since the mitochondrial DNA of this new creature will be elephant and the nucleic DNA is mammoth what is this creature really?
Jurassic Park ping!
I’m sure they’ve learned from those mistakes. “Yes, you’re making all new ones!”
“Didn’t this go terribly wrong in a Japanese movie plot already?”
Japanic Park?
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Yeah, that’s the one, where global warming took place and saved planet earth from the humans by killing them all.
Beer can Mammoth....we're gonna need a bigger can!!!
Daryl Hannah gets it good in The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986)
Might as well clone the mammoth.
With the Zombie Apocalypse underway there’s gonna be a lot less people running around.
And what better way to usher in the ice age?
Imagine being the first human to be gored and trampled by a mammoth in over 5000 years.
As soon as it's spawned, it automatically becomes an endangered species.
Cheers!
For food, pet or side show?
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