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, @05:06PM
there are people who say that a few species (?) go extinct ever day (amazon and such places?) so it would be a nice gesture to the universe if we could put our human ingenuity and energy to some good for a change? they will prolly eat (and poop) alot ^_^
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Sunday April 26 2015, @02:12AM
Ranchers scream bloody murder about a few bison leaving parks and wandering near their cattle. We might explode their heads if we let mammoths loose.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday April 26 2015, @07:03PM
Let's see them protest this.
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