this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2025

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Scientists aiming to bring back woolly mammoth create woolly mice (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 11 months ago by SquiffSquiff@lemmy.world to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

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[–] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 65 points 11 months ago (5 children)

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.

[–] gofsckyourself@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago

Well, the goal isn't to just create woolly mammoth-lile creatures by copying characteristics. The goal is to recreate the genome from what genome data we have into a living creature.

It's not like they are trying to create a sweded version, but take a creature that is already close and change the genes to match.

At least, that's how I understood it based on the article.

[–] Silic0n_Alph4@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago (5 children)

And next you’ll say that genetically-modified ears aren’t enough to make catgirls real either 😩

Can we let this one go? Not for science, not for accuracy, but for the prospect of having catgirls in our lifetimes, at least?

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[–] yyprum@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 11 months ago

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

[–] asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

That's not nit picky.

[–] pip@slrpnk.net 2 points 11 months ago (25 children)

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?????

[–] FoolHen@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Not really, we humans killed most big land animals that we found as we expanded our territory, back when we were hunters. This happened in big "islands" like Australia and Madagascar, as well as all the small islands. There, large animals had lived in equilibrium for centuries, and their extinction matches some short time after humans arrived. An exception are the galapago islands, as they were discovered in the 19th century.

[–] pip@slrpnk.net 1 points 11 months ago

Besides the fact that the hunting hypothesis is that; a hypothesis, there's a lot of other factors as to why it isn't a good idea. Mainly, ohh idk... The fact that they have had no place in nature in over tens of thousands of years? Even if we managed to create an artificial habitat and role in an ecosystem for them, they would be very vulnerable due to megafauna's increased minimum land requirements because of their size and in danger constantly due to climate change.

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[–] Fuckfuckmyfuckingass@lemmy.world 40 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Kind of a dick move to bring an animal from the Ice Age, back to experience global warming.

[–] Frozengyro@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago

Global warming 2 extinction boogaloo

[–] quoll@lemmy.sdf.org 38 points 11 months ago (1 children)

mouse sized woolly mammoth would be pretty fucking cool.

imagine the sound when he toots his little trunk.

could store him in the fridge.

[–] Timecircleline@sh.itjust.works 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

But how would he get in the fridge?

[–] Birch@sh.itjust.works 6 points 11 months ago

Open door, giraffe goes out, mammoth goes in, close door

[–] popekingjoe@lemmy.world 30 points 11 months ago

Everything weird about this aside... Those mice are fucking adorable.

[–] proceduralnightshade@lemmy.ml 19 points 11 months ago

They do look extremely cute though.

[–] teft@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago

Is this how we get tribbles?

[–] takeheart@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

new Pokémon just dropped?

[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

How many butts do the mice have?

[–] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Got the woolly m, just need a few more letters.

[–] thefartographer@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago

I'd like to buy a vowel. "U?"

Damnit!

[–] SapphironZA@sh.itjust.works 5 points 11 months ago

Tribbles!

[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

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.net 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] Silic0n_Alph4@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Don’t let me harsh your vibe here, but are you sure about the moon thing? https://www.iflscience.com/the-internet-appears-to-believe-elephants-worship-the-moon-58666

I’m down with chihuahua-sized elephants, though, don’t get me wrong here.

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[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 months ago

We need to answer the age old question - what did wooly mammoths taste like?

[–] NauticalNoodle@lemmynsfw.com 3 points 11 months ago

gotta start somewhere

[–] the_q@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Why? How about focusing on preventing more extinctions instead of some Jurassic Park bullshit.

[–] calcopiritus@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

We have to experiment with mice before achieving the ultimate goal of laser shooting sharks.

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[–] thefartographer@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

I'd like to buy a vowel. "U!"

Damnit!

[–] RaoulDook@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

"We were like this close" 🤏

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