Return of the Woolly Mammoth due 'within five years'

[The Don]

WOW, I hope they manage to do it successfully!

[beth]

can you shave em without killing em? like a sheep.

[Shar]

On one hand, I would like to see if it's actually possible but on the other, they're extinct so why try and bring them back..?

[Eoin247]

If they are brought back, i very doubt they will be introduced into the wild for many years at the very least.

Even if they don't get brought into the wild, should be very interesting to see this being done.

[dbgtz]

On one hand, I would like to see if it's actually possible but on the other, they're extinct so why try and bring them back..?

I think there's a couple of reasons. One I think is just the pure wow factor that it is possible which could then generate money for tourism to wherever it is held. Second is that if they can do it for 2 animals that are very close then they might try it with dinosaurs in some reptiles of sorts and slowly branch away until it starts to not work. Third is that they can then examine the animal and see for sure the details of it, along with anything else they may try this on.

[Oleh]

I can imagine now, the mammothfetusoutgrowing the elephant and ripping it open from the inside out.

[GommeInc]

Would it not die or be incredibly uncomfortable in the climate the earth now has? Most animals go extinct because of the climate they once lived in has changed drastically. As lovely as it would be, I'm sure it's animal cruelty to force a once extinct animal to live for the benefit of pleasing a load of scientists. The benefits are literally for the scientists - to prove they're capable of something. The Mammoth doesn't seem to have any benefits of being "brought back to life." In short, it seems it is being done for selfish reasons, rather than to bring back a creature that died naturally.

Amazing, but a tiny bit pointless. They should be trying this with animals that went extinct due to the interventions of man.

[GoldenMerc]

Be amazing if they returned, look scary though

[The Don]

Would it not die or be incredibly uncomfortable in the climate the earth now has? Most animals go extinct because of the climate they once lived in has changed drastically. As lovely as it would be, I'm sure it's animal cruelty to force a once extinct animal to live for the benefit of pleasing a load of scientists. The benefits are literally for the scientists - to prove they're capable of something. The Mammoth doesn't seem to have any benefits of being "brought back to life." In short, it seems it is being done for selfish reasons, rather than to bring back a creature that died naturally.

Amazing, but a tiny bit pointless. They should be trying this with animals that went extinct due to the interventions of man.

I was under the impression that the woolly mammoth was hunted to extinction?

[GommeInc]

I was under the impression that the woolly mammoth was hunted to extinction?

There's no evidence of how they died. At the moment it's between the Big Freeze and Man. One study suggests it died due to a change in the environment and the loss of genetic diversity.

iTWire - Study says wooly mammoth died from environment and loss of diversity

An interesting read. There was a programme on television a few years ago that discussed extinction and it's believed many animals became extinct because of the environment rather than man - man being a bit useless at hunting and the lack of weapons. It's a huge discussion