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posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday August 03 2016, @01:18AM   Printer-friendly
from the water-they-talking-about dept.

Researchers have pinpointed the approximate date and cause of extinction of woolly mammoths on St. Paul Island, Alaska:

While the Minoan culture on Crete was just beginning, woolly mammoths were disappearing from St. Paul Island, Alaska, according to an international team of scientists who have dated this extinction to 5,600 years ago.

[...] In this study, three different spores from fungi that grow on large animal dung were extracted from lake cores and used to determine when the mammoths were no longer on the island. Proxies in sediments from cores from a lake near the cave were used to determine the time of the demise of the mammoth population. [...] Sediment DNA from the lake cores showed the presence of mammoth DNA until 5,650 years ago, plus or minus 80 years. After that time, there is no mammoth DNA and so no mammoths on the island. The youngest of the newly dated mammoth remains' dates fall within the mammoth DNA range and the fungal spore dates as well.

[...] The island, which formed between 14,700 and 13,500 years ago rapidly shrank until 9,000 years ago and continued slowly shrinking until 6,000 years ago and now is only 42 square miles in area. [...] The shrinking of the island concentrated the mammoths in a smaller area and diminished available water. Pollen from the lake cores indicate that the area around the lake was denuded of vegetation by the mammoths. Like elephants today, when the water became cloudy and turgid, the mammoths probably dug holes nearby to obtain cleaner water. Both of these things increased erosion in the area and helped fill in the lake, decreasing the available water even more. After the extinction of the mammoths, the cores show that erosion stopped and vegetation returned to the area. In essence, the mammoths contributed to their own demise. The researchers note that this research "highlights freshwater limitation as an overlooked extinction driver and underscores the vulnerability of small island populations to environmental change, even in the absence of human influence."

Timing and causes of mid-Holocene mammoth extinction on St. Paul Island, Alaska (open, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1604903113)

Related: Woolly Mammoth Genome Sequenced


Original Submission

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Woolly Mammoth Genome Sequenced 26 comments

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."

Resurrection of the Woolly Mammoth Could Begin in Two Years 20 comments

Scientists led by George Church claim that they are about two years away from beginning a de-extinction of the woolly mammoth. They aim to produce a hybrid mammoth-elephant embryo with many spliced-in mammoth traits:

The woolly mammoth vanished from the Earth 4,000 years ago, but now scientists say they are on the brink of resurrecting the ancient beast in a revised form, through an ambitious feat of genetic engineering.

Speaking ahead of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Boston this week, the scientist leading the "de-extinction" effort said the Harvard team is just two years away from creating a hybrid embryo, in which mammoth traits would be programmed into an Asian elephant. "Our aim is to produce a hybrid elephant-mammoth embryo," said Prof George Church. "Actually, it would be more like an elephant with a number of mammoth traits. We're not there yet, but it could happen in a couple of years."

The creature, sometimes referred to as a "mammophant", would be partly elephant, but with features such as small ears, subcutaneous fat, long shaggy hair and cold-adapted blood. The mammoth genes for these traits are spliced into the elephant DNA using the powerful gene-editing tool, Crispr. Until now, the team have stopped at the cell stage, but are now moving towards creating embryos – although, they said that it would be many years before any serious attempt at producing a living creature.

"We're working on ways to evaluate the impact of all these edits and basically trying to establish embryogenesis in the lab," said Church. Since starting the project in 2015 the researchers have increased the number of "edits" where mammoth DNA has been spliced into the elephant genome from 15 to 45. "We already know about ones to do with small ears, subcutaneous fat, hair and blood, but there are others that seem to be positively selected," he said.

Also at New Scientist and GenomeWeb.

Previously: Engineering the Perfect Baby
Woolly Mammoth Genome Sequenced
St. Paul Island Mammoths Died of Thirst 5,600 Years Ago
OBQ: [How Much] Should We Bioengineer Animals to Live in Our Damaged World?


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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 03 2016, @01:20AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 03 2016, @01:20AM (#383444)

    The subject should be the preamble on most of these "scientific breakthroughs".

    • (Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday August 03 2016, @03:31AM

      by frojack (1554) on Wednesday August 03 2016, @03:31AM (#383479) Journal

      Agreed. Nothing in the article suggests they actually died of thirst.

      Nothing said that the lake was completely filled so there would have been water. Not is there any evidence the weather was much different 5600 years ago. It never gets much above 60, rains a lot, fogs a lot, snows a whole lot.

      I'd bet they dwindled due to eating the the vegetation down to the nub on the dwindling patch of land, then died in the first extra strong winter that came along. Or maybe the struck out for the mainland over the sea ice only to be stranded on the ice flow.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 03 2016, @01:59AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 03 2016, @01:59AM (#383454)

    The intake was unplugged Wednesday [Sept. 23, 2015] to finish flooding an $817 million tunnel and complete a complicated and perilous "Third Straw" project to draw drinking water for Las Vegas from a shrinking Lake Mead.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/las-vegas-uncaps-lake-meads-third-straw-for-water-supply/ [cbsnews.com]

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 03 2016, @02:45AM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday August 03 2016, @02:45AM (#383470) Journal
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    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday August 03 2016, @03:56AM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday August 03 2016, @03:56AM (#383485)

      That's not just for drinking, it also supplies the evaporation of the Bellagio fountains, and every mister in the city.

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 05 2016, @03:33AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 05 2016, @03:33AM (#384367)

        every missus, too

    • (Score: 2) by Some call me Tim on Wednesday August 03 2016, @04:09AM

      by Some call me Tim (5819) on Wednesday August 03 2016, @04:09AM (#383487)

      Re-cap that damn thing, we need to get rid of some of the mammoths in Vegas.

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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 03 2016, @08:42AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 03 2016, @08:42AM (#383540)

      While I may think nothing in Vegas is productive, it is people, and they need water too.

      Can't blame 'em for seeing to it there is enough for their people.

      • (Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Thursday August 04 2016, @12:39AM

        by art guerrilla (3082) on Thursday August 04 2016, @12:39AM (#383847)

        ...AND 'enough for your people' is one thing, 'enough so you can waste it on any of a thousand water-wasting displays which have nothing to do with drinking it to maintain life', is another thing...
        i would be willing to bet they have a HUGE per capita usage because of the tourism industry...

  • (Score: 3, Touché) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday August 03 2016, @03:15AM

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday August 03 2016, @03:15AM (#383475)

    After the extinction of the mammoths, the cores show that erosion stopped and vegetation returned to the area. In essence, the mammoths contributed to their own demise.

    What kind of stupid species alters their environment so much they can't live there any more?
    No wonder they're extinct.

    • (Score: 2) by Some call me Tim on Wednesday August 03 2016, @04:13AM

      by Some call me Tim (5819) on Wednesday August 03 2016, @04:13AM (#383488)

      How did the mammoths cause the island to sink?

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    • (Score: 2) by Gravis on Wednesday August 03 2016, @08:51AM

      by Gravis (4596) on Wednesday August 03 2016, @08:51AM (#383541)

      What kind of stupid species alters their environment so much they can't live there any more?

      homo sapiens?

      • (Score: 2) by arulatas on Wednesday August 03 2016, @02:00PM

        by arulatas (3600) on Wednesday August 03 2016, @02:00PM (#383589)

        Whoosh?

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 03 2016, @03:28AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 03 2016, @03:28AM (#383478)

    Researchers have pinpointed the approximate date and cause of extinction ...

    Yeah, ok.

  • (Score: 2) by Some call me Tim on Wednesday August 03 2016, @04:06AM

    by Some call me Tim (5819) on Wednesday August 03 2016, @04:06AM (#383486)

    From the article: Contrary to other extinction models for the St. Paul mammoth population, this evidence indicates that this mammoth population died out because of the synergistic effects of shrinking island area and freshwater scarcity caused by rising sea levels and regional climate change.
    There you have it, they must have been driving their SUVs too much.

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  • (Score: 2) by archfeld on Wednesday August 03 2016, @05:11AM

    by archfeld (4650) <treboreel@live.com> on Wednesday August 03 2016, @05:11AM (#383497) Journal

    So this then led to the closing of the Slate rock quarry, putting Fred Flintstone and several hundred of his peers out of work.

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