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from the we-like-our-pets-big-and-furry dept.
An international team of scientists led by Dr. Love Dalén at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm has published [abstract] the complete genome sequences of two woolly mammoths. Their analysis found evidence of inbreeding among the final population of mammoths on Wrangel Island, as well as a genetic bottleneck around 300,000 years ago, before the arrival of modern humans in the region. Woolly mammoths went extinct around 4,000 years ago, and although Dr. Dalén's team is not attempting to revive the mammoth, they aren't dismissing the possibility:
Dr Love Dalén, at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, told BBC News that the first ever publication of the full DNA sequence of the mammoth could help those trying to bring the creature back to life.
"It would be a lot of fun (in principle) to see a living mammoth, to see how it behaves and how it moves," he said.
But he would rather his research was not used to this end.
"It seems to me that trying this out might lead to suffering for female elephants and that would not be ethically justifiable."
Dr Dalén and the international group of researchers he is collaborating with are not attempting to resurrect the mammoth. But the Long Now Foundation, an organisation based in San Francisco, claims that it is. Now, with the publication of the complete mammoth genome, it could be a step closer to achieving its aim. On its website, the foundation says its ultimate goal is "to produce new mammoths that are capable of repopulating the vast tracts of tundra and boreal forest in Eurasia and North America."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 25 2015, @02:03PM
I saw elephants at a zoo once, and what struck me the most was how large their genitalia were. Even relative to their size, the male elephants had very large penises and hefty scrotums. Were wolly mammoths the same? Were they well endowed with large genitalia?
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Saturday April 25 2015, @02:23PM
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/9590626/Russian-boy-discovers-woolly-mammoth-of-the-century.html [telegraph.co.uk]
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(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 25 2015, @03:18PM
HOLY FUCK!
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday April 25 2015, @05:00PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 25 2015, @08:32PM
Didn't seem like a troll to me. 1/5th of shoulder height is very large even accounting for size.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 26 2015, @02:00AM
The word "troll" has lost all meaning these days, because people like you just don't know when to use it. Asking if woolly mammoths have large penises is a reasonable question. Elephants do have very long penises, although they lack girth.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday April 26 2015, @03:54AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 25 2015, @05:46PM
No, Mammoth Fuck for you!
I heard they were casting a mold of it, with you in mind. ;-)
You have to watch what you say around those paleontologists, they are a quirky bunch...especially the ones measuring mammoth cocks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 25 2015, @03:40PM
The blue whale says hi and laughs at their tiny penis, if such things mattered.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Paradise Pete on Saturday April 25 2015, @05:13PM
Everything is relative. You just know there's a blue whale somewhere explaining that it's just that the water is really cold.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday April 25 2015, @04:15PM
The good news is that the woolly mammooth genome has a 94.4% similarity with the elephant genome.
The bad news is that it has a 99.3% similarity with your mom's.
Account abandoned.