Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

Boffin: Will I soon be able to CLONE a WOOLLY MAMMOTH? YES. Should I? Hell NO

But it would be useful for research

Poll It will definitely be possible within the foreseeable future to bring back the long-extinct woolly mammoth, a top geneticist has said. However, in his regretful opinion such a resurrection should not be carried out.

The assertion comes in the wake of a new study of mammoth genetics as compared to their cousins the Asian and African elephants, which live in warm habitats very different from the icy northern realms of the woolly giant.

The research offers boffins many revelations as to the differences which let the elephants and mammoths survive in such different conditions.

“This is by far the most comprehensive study to look at the genetic changes that make a woolly mammoth a woolly mammoth,” said genetics prof Vincent Lynch.

“They are an excellent model to understand how morphological evolution works, because mammoths are so closely related to living elephants, which have none of the traits they had," he added.

Apparently the mammoths may have been led to become fatter and hairier than the elephants by a particular gene called TRPV3. We're told:

When transplanted into human cells in the laboratory, the mammoth TRPV3 gene produced a protein that is less responsive to heat than an ancestral elephant version of the gene.

This result is supported by observations in mice that have TRPV3 artificially silenced. These mice prefer colder environments than normal mice and have wavier hair.

But Lynch said that this relatively low-key method of potentially creating a terrifying woolly human-mammoth abomination in the lab can't reveal the whole truth.

“We can’t know with absolute certainty the effects of these genes unless someone resurrects a complete woolly mammoth," he added.

“Eventually we’ll be technically able to do it. But the question is: if you’re technically able to do something, should you do it?” he said.

“I personally think 'no'. Mammoths are extinct and the environment in which they lived has changed. There are many animals on the edge of extinction that we should be helping instead.”

The mammoths died out around 10,000 years ago, recently enough that pictures of them painted by primitive humans survive to this day.

The genetic study, entitled Elephantid Genomes Reveal the Molecular Bases of Woolly Mammoth Adaptations to the Arctic, has been published here, in the journal Cell Reports. ®

JavaScript Disabled

Please Enable JavaScript to use this feature.

Thanks for your feedback!

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like