Wait, what was that? Bring back the mammoth? Do you mean that horrible Syfy movie with the monster with all the tentacles that look like tails? No? Well that's something to be thankful for then. Bring back the woolly mammoth? What would the woolly mammoth do in our day and age?
Well, in case you haven't seen it, a group of Japanese scientists have declared that within the next 5 years they will bring the woolly mammoth back from extinction. (see the article here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110117/wl_asia_afp/japansciencemammoth_20110117104445) So what is their evil plan? They want to take an egg cell from an elephant and suck the genetic material out of it and replace it with some DNA from a sample from a woolly mammoth. I can understand how the science works, but I can't understand following through on the process.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not an anti-woolly-mammoth type of person. I just don't think the scientists have thought beyond creating the mammoth. Will we just make them to study and put in zoos or will we try to create a setting for them to live in? Where will we put them? Our ecosystems are fragile enough without adding the woolly mammoth to the mix.
Let's consider the options. Can we let the mammoths live with elephants in the jungles? They aren't designed for that kind of climate. I guess we could place them in Siberia or Alaska, but what would that do to those locations? We certainly can't dump them on the polar ice caps. They are shrinking way too fast to provide them with a stable home. I guess the best option is to keep them in captivity, but it hardly seems worthwhile to bring a species out of "retirement" just to lock them away.
I understand the curiosity of the scientists, but I guess I want a plan before humanity embarks on such a project. What do you think about this idea? Comment below.
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