Japanese scientists try to revive Woolly Mammoth

[dragon53]

Link: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/woolly-mammoth-back-life-scientists-japan-a8818856.html

[CityRaptor]

Haven't they been trying that for decades? Well, at least they are one step closer now, although it reminds me of this:
https://jurassicpark.fandom.com/wiki/Pachyderm_Portfolio

[Doug Watson]

But aren't they going to end up with Woolly Mammice instead of Woolly Mammoths? 

[Concavenator]

But aren't they going to end up with Woolly Mammice instead of Woolly Mammoths? 

That was a good one 

[Lizerd]

Late on this, but really only Japan would try this. Hope it works.

[laticauda]

I am all for rewilding but shouldn't the focus be on finding a balance between humans and the animals that are currently still alive and are being pushed to the brink?

[Syndicate Bias]

I am all for rewilding but shouldn't the focus be on finding a balance between humans and the animals that are currently still alive and are being pushed to the brink?

What if our modern animals go extinct and we somehow bring back dinosaurs and ice age mammals instead?

Jokes aside I think the future will be full of genetically modified animals. Even with our current efforts we still have bad people killing them and we can't catch them all on time. That's the sad part about it all. There's always someone out there looking to make some money hunting endangered species.

[stargatedalek]

I am all for rewilding but shouldn't the focus be on finding a balance between humans and the animals that are currently still alive and are being pushed to the brink?

Mammoths are a good candidate for rewilding, as their original habitat still exists and would likely benefit from their presence.

[Shonisaurus]

Honestly, I think the Chinese scientists think it is plausible, but I would like them to try to save the five species of rhinos, especially the Indian, the Java and the Sumatra, which are in a critical situation. On the other hand I would prefer that they clone the white rhinoceros of North Africa that is practically gone. Having said all that, I would like the mammoth to be resuscitated through genetic engineering, but that would make us, in a certain way, gods and make amends to science. Sincerely what Japanese scientists are pretending may be in some way dangerous to materialize such desire can create dangerous hybrid animals as step in the science fiction movie as the indoraptor and indominus and it is not an exaggeration. In my nation they detained a man who had genetically manipulated dogs and turned them into murderous animals of men. The plan was turned against him because one of the killer dogs genetically modified to kill killed one of the caretakers he faced, the police found out and the owner of those dogs was locked up in jail if I did not agreement and all dogs as is logical slaughtered.

On the other hand, leaving this topic as I read, in some article for years frozen mammals still have Ebola virus frozen. The same can cause an epidemic in the sense that they revive viruses like the one already mentioned or any disease that is unknown to the human race. Playing to be gods with nature can be turned against is not an exaggeration. On the other hand the inhabitants of the steppes of Siberia have told the scientists to leave those disappeared animals in peace. I am of the same opinion.

[stargatedalek]

Honestly, I think the Chinese scientists think it is plausible, but I would like them to try to save the five species of rhinos, especially the Indian, the Java and the Sumatra, which are in a critical situation. On the other hand I would prefer that they clone the white rhinoceros of North Africa that is practically gone. Having said all that, I would like the mammoth to be resuscitated through genetic engineering, but that would make us, in a certain way, gods and make amends to science. Sincerely what Japanese scientists are pretending may be in some way dangerous to materialize such desire can create dangerous hybrid animals as step in the science fiction movie as the indoraptor and indominus and it is not an exaggeration. In my nation they detained a man who had genetically manipulated dogs and turned them into murderous animals of men. The plan was turned against him because one of the killer dogs genetically modified to kill killed one of the caretakers he faced, the police found out and the owner of those dogs was locked up in jail if I did not agreement and all dogs as is logical slaughtered.

On the other hand, leaving this topic as I read, in some article for years frozen mammals still have Ebola virus frozen. The same can cause an epidemic in the sense that they revive viruses like the one already mentioned or any disease that is unknown to the human race. Playing to be gods with nature can be turned against is not an exaggeration. On the other hand the inhabitants of the steppes of Siberia have told the scientists to leave those disappeared animals in peace. I am of the same opinion.

I would be shocked if it wasn't possible to simply clone rhinoceros species, even based on genetic samples taken before extinction. The best option for preservation in such extreme circumstances is of course captivity (IE axolotl, to name an extreme example), but housing such large animals as rhinoceros is an expensive process so very few zoos undertake it. And even then it's worth asking if the current populations are large enough to create enough genetic diversity for long term survival.

We already have commercially available genetically modified fish that glow in the dark, reviving an extinct species through hybridization would not be setting any sort of precedent as far as the genetic manipulation portion is concerned. It would hardly be placing us on the level of gods, let alone ending science as we understand it.

We have been genetically engineering dogs to kill other humans for centuries, just doing so extremely slowly. And through all of that even the most deliberately aggressive dogs with aggressive lineage even among their breed are governed more by the way they're treated by humans than any innate aggression in their stock. Considering how revolutionary it is that scientists in China are creating beagles with increased muscle mass, a madman murderer creating killer dogs through gene modification should have been a global news story, at least among science circles. More likely these dogs were bred or trained to kill people, and a less reputable paper was blowing things out of proportion.

Naturally the inhabitants are opposed to introducing mammoths, given most of them are opposed to rewilding in general. They fear the introduction of something so well known as mammoths would be a powerful symbol that would lead to significant pressure from environmental organizations that could lead to land being designated as reserves. Local politicians and large businesses frequently lobby against such things, trying to trick the masses into thinking it would be bad for them, and somehow cut into their own financial security. In reality it just means less land can be available to these large companies for dangerous mining of dirty fuel, development of cheaper and inefficient farmland, etc.

[laticauda]

If they succeed, then what?  Hold them at a zoo for a price or reintroduce them to a wild that is bereft of the fauna that it used to live along side.  What predators are going to chase them and keep the numbers manageable.  What about the Siberian permafrost which is melting?  Is that environment going to be able to hold a healthy and stable population? 

Staratedalek also stated the facts that most people do not understand rewilding and are opposed to it.  For some reason many people think there is a difference between the human world and the wild.  The reality is that all goes together.  Our backyards are part of the wild, we just choose to ignore it and think there is a magical space far away that is for those large and scary animals.  Until our mindsets change, large fauna will be pushed to the brink, and go extinct.

But we could also be on the cusp of something interesting.

Some animal species have learned to live and thrive among humans. With so many nieces becoming empty we should start seeing a wide variety of animals changing to fit the empty spaces of the world.  The world is never static, we have no idea what its going to look like.    Could be good, or it could go really bad.  Which again leads to the idea, is bringing back this species really a good idea, when we have opportunities to try and re wild with what is still left?

[stargatedalek]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't believe woolly mammoths had natural predators. Large slow breeding animals like that would also be very easy to control through culling if they were overpopulated. The first question though is whether it's even possible to create a genetically diverse population of hybrid mammoths. Would they need to occasionally interbreed with elephants or introduce new hybrids into the population to keep enough new genetic material in their bloodlines, and would that eventually water down their "mammoth-ness"?

Barring that, why do people think keeping them in zoos is such an inherently bad thing?

Because that space could be occupied by endangered species with a better chance of future reintroduction? Shouldn't that also apply to all of the zoos keeping common animals like lions or bears?

Because it's an unnatural man-made creature and that money could go towards wild animals? I don't think I've ever visited a zoo without a few domestic farm animals or exotic pet morphs, what makes those different?

Because mammoths would be ludicrously expensive relative to other animals? Because the cost of making them fuels genetic research which some people are opposed to? Pandas are expensive and the money spent on them goes to a literal dictatorship.

Zoos are about education, entertainment, and preservation*. From what I can tell cloned extinct animals tick those boxes in spades (*if a touch more literally than normal).

[laticauda]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't believe woolly mammoths had natural predators.

Of course they did.  As with most large animals, once they reach adult hood it was relatively safe from the predators.  But wait a minute, they have to get there first.  Elephants today just as Mammoths of old, have to grow up.  As calf's, Juveniles, and sub adults they would be vulnerable to predators.  There used to be a host of predators, dire wolves, cave hyenas, short faced bears, cave lions, and those pesky sabre toothed cats. Those predators would have kept the Mammoth numbers manageable and on the move so they didn't strip the ground bare of food. 

As for human culling, we do not do a good job of managing numbers. Humans either kill them all or let them over populate.  For example in North America we have a deer problem which has lead to the loss of many native plants and song birds.  Even the health of river ecology is effected by the over grazing of these animals.  Even though there is a hunting season, most of the year they can browse with little to no harassment except when crossing a busy street .  Why?  Natural apex predators do a much better job then we do.  They keep the prey on the move and the mid level hunters scurrying for cover.  For an example look at Yellowstone and what the wolves have done for the ecology in the park.  They even saved the pronghorns from the ravages of coyotes. 

As for zoo's, of course that's an option.  Money always talks, (if they can charge enough). Education?  We are still educating people about the African, Forest, and Asian Elephant, and how to try live side by side with them, and its not working very well.  Preservation? Strange concept as the earth is always changing so it is hard to preserve anything, but finding and preserving a balance is important.  I just do not see how this applies in this case unless you bring back the entire ecosystem.  Entertainment?  That one I do agree with.  People will pay at first.  Overtime, it will lose its luster.  It just seems silly to bring back an animal that has gone extinct just for display.  I would hope it would be part of rebuilding the ecology of the steppe.  Again, is it really worth it? 

[Faelrin]

I dream of the day when one of these (even if it ends up being a hybrid) can walk the earth. Might have to keep on dreaming though (feels like forever already). I know one of the goals of Pleistocene Park is to have these at some point (if it is ever possible because of genetic material, and using an endangered species to serve as a surrogate is risky to begin with, etc), and would vastly benefit the ecosystem there (and help keep the thawing permafrost in check, which is becoming a larger threat as time goes on). Although I wonder if they would be able to survive in our current climate. Aside from our early ancestors hunting them, was it not the changing climate that pushed them to extinction in the first place?

I wonder if things would be possibly better off or easier to modify an existing species that could take its ecological role? Of course even there would be ethical issues too (depending on how drastically an animal were to be altered could it still function correctly, which is why it is not a good idea to hatch any of those chickenosaurus embyros, etc), and of course public push back for one reason or another. And then there is even the question of what species to modify. Of course I am pretty naive about all of this. Surely what I'm thinking of has probably been thought of before, if not tried already.

But darn, just thinking of genetically modified creatures, has got my imagination wandering into some weird territory (such as pig sized woolly rhinos rather specifically). Though I suppose watching the Future is Wild again after all these has given that a push too. But anyways, on topic, all I can do for now is keep waiting and researching on this stuff to see where it all goes (if anywhere).