Genetically modified mice have traits geared towards cold tolerance, in step towards modifying elephants
  • quoll@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    21·
    6 hours ago

    mouse sized woolly mammoth would be pretty fucking cool.

    imagine the sound when he toots his little trunk.

    could store him in the fridge.

  • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.caEnglish
    321·
    7 hours ago

    Can I be nit-picky here for a second?

    If you’re genetically modifying an elephant for cold tolerance and fur growth, you’re not “bring a mammoth back from extinction”, you’re creating a furry elephant. It may look somewhat like a mammoth, but genetically it’s not a mammoth at all.

    It’s like saying you can genetically modify a homo-sapien to have a pronounced brow ridge and a hairier back and say that you’ve brought the neandertal back from extinction. No you haven’t, you’ve just designed a human who looks different.

    • 🕸️ Pip 🕷️@slrpnk.netEnglish
      51·
      5 hours ago

      And the most annoying part is that this is incredibly fcking useless. Wooly mammoths went extinct for a reason. Large animals are become less and less evolutionary preferred. Wooly mammoths are adjusted for the cold while our globe is warming.

      Can we just use our fcking resources for things that matter???

    • yyprum@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      2·
      4 hours ago

      I already have the hairy back, can I say I am half neanderthalensis? Better than homo sapiens seeing how things are going…

  • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.netEnglish
    2·
    8 hours ago

    Ever since I was a kid I’ve always been hyped about the idea of them bringing back the mammoth. Been hearing about it my whole life…

    But I have to ask… Why are we trying to, exactly? I mean, the planet’s heating up. why are we trying to reintroduce a woolly mammoth? It’s one thing if they’re talking about using actual mammoth DNA and cloning it, but that article was talking about specifically just turning on some genes that cause fur and cold tolerance… What is the point of just making furry elephants at this point? Where are we sticking them, and why are we sticking them there? Is there some ecological niche that needs filling? Are we going to attempt to populate Antarctica (and hope it stays cold enough for that?) with hirsute pachyderms?

    How about a different plan? As much as I have been excited woolly mammoths my entire life, let’s try something a little different. Let’s shrink the elephants we have, and introduce them into North America. Elephants the size of bison, roaming the continent. You can still make them cold tolerant, to handle winters, and give em some fur if you want. But the elephants we have are going extinct, and you’re worrying about bringing back something else. How about we save what we have? Let them roam and graze Europe and North America, replacing the Aurochs and the bison. God knows we’re not going to stop eating anything too cow like, so wild bison is basically right out. Let’s let the elephant fill these niches, and save the species. They’re too fucking smart to let die. Elephants got fucking religion, y’all. We cannot let them die.

    • BastingChemina@slrpnk.netEnglish
      4·
      7 hours ago

      Reintroducing mammoths in the arctic could potentially help reduce the climate change.

      There is a scientist in Siberia who built the Pleistocene Park. An area where he reintroduced a lot of large herbivores and studied their impact. He’s saying that boreal forest have a very low biodiversity compared to mammoth steppes. The steppes have way more animals, are stocking way more carbon in the soil and prevent methane leaks by keeping the permafrost frozen due to the low albedo of the biome.

      The problem is that with the mammoths are indispensable to maintain the steppes. They are the only animal big enough to clear up trees, without them the forest is taking over and all the ecosystem of the steppes disappear.

      So (according to this scientist), resurrecting the mammoth could revive a whole ecosystem, with a very rich biodiversity and that could have a give impact on the climate.

      • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.netEnglish
        2·
        5 hours ago

        So there is a good reason, then? I’ve googled it before, and the best answers I’ve gotten are basically “cause MAMMOTHS!”

        If that’s the case and there’s a good reason, then hell yeah, do whatever we can to prevent climate collapse!

        But also, give me small elephants, please? Especially if they can manage Chihuahua sized elephants. I would have so many! And I would make sure they always have a clear view of the moon goddess they worship