Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

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Re: Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

Postby Marcuse » Thu May 30, 2013 7:17 am

Orange Eyebrows wrote:Isn't immunity something that's developed in the womb and through breastfeeding? So wouldn't the ickle baby mammoth get immunity from the surrogate (presumably a heffalump)?


Yes, immunity is transferred from mother to child. But immunity also partially relies upon genetics, which is one of the reasons why it's important to have a diverse gene pool. Also, it's debatable whether it would be possible to utilise an elephant as a surrogate due to the increased size of the mammoth compared with even the largest elephant. It would probably be a highly problematic birth, which would likely require surgery to complete.

I suppose my point is more that the environment, which includes diseases, food sources, temperature and many other factors, have radically altered from the time when mammoths were a viable species in the wild. If we did clone mammoths they would be extremely poorly adapted to life in our world and would likely require continual care to survive at all.

Also, the mammoth would probably not have access to the complimentary bacteria that tend to exist in the gut and really throughout the body. The elephant surrogate would likely have different or altered bacteria for the same purpose, which the mammoth may not be able to cope with, combined with the difference in diet, it makes for an absurdly difficult thing to achieve with any level of success. That's why I said we need a really good reason to be doing it.
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Re: Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

Postby Learned Nand » Thu May 30, 2013 11:03 am

"Because we can" is a good reason. We didn't say it would be easy, we said it would be awesome.
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Re: Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

Postby D-LOGAN » Thu May 30, 2013 1:38 pm

Finally a chance for someone to utter the words 2because I Can!" Without it being a Supervillain explaining to the tearful heroine why he's activating the Omega-device.

aviel wrote:I really don't think the desire to clone extinct animals is ever going to go away, so we should start working our way up to the mammoth. Maybe start with a tasmanian tiger?


Oh and apparently they were planning on cloning Thylacines. It was back in 2002, when geneticists at an Australian Museum announced that they had replicated it's DNA but then 3 years later, they admitted they were stopping the project after tests showed the specimens' DNA had been degraded by the ethanol in the preservative they used to keep their sample.
Bloody good thing if you ask me, otherwise we could of ended up with a half Tasmanian Tiger/ Half Glob of ethyl alcohol rampaging through the streets. And we all remember what happened last time they did that!

But I understand they've started the process again, so aul Wendell here might get some company after all.

Image


The animators really went with the wolf name for thylacines here didn't they!
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Re: Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

Postby Lindvaettr » Thu May 30, 2013 4:43 pm

Remember that we're not talking about a species that's been extinct for hundreds of thousands of years. Mammoths existed up until about 8000BC. Some of them existed until 2000BC on Wrangle Island, in Siberia. While things have changed, other than bacteria they haven't changed that much. Most of our plants, except the ones we've created ourselves like corn, were prevalent back then, too. Mammoth food sources certainly aren't gone. I'd suggest they would even be pretty common, in certain parts of the world. I'd guess they could probably eat most things an Asian Elephant can. Maybe they like peanuts.

The real issues would be, as has been mentioned, bacteria and viruses. By the time we're able to successfully clone mammoths to our heart's content, we'll probably already have re-engineered them, as we're trying to do with several other extinct animals, so we'll probably have a pretty good understanding of how we can modify the clone to have a better immune system at birth. Keep in mind, too, that immune systems adapt and develop very, very fast.

The other issue would probably be "Where do we put it"? The answer that comes to my mind would be "Probably Siberia". That's where they went extinct last, and to my knowledge, it's not unlike ice age Europe. Set up a mammoth reserve there, and you've given them a home. Hurray!
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Re: Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

Postby D-LOGAN » Thu May 30, 2013 5:00 pm

The important thing is, once we've perfected this whole cloning malarkey we can forget about all this "Protecting endangered species" nonsense. One species goes extinct cause it couldn't be bothered evolving into being immune to bullets or pollution or not having a habitat, no problem, we'll just make more.
Pfffft, pansy ass animals can't take a little humanity and WE'RE supposed to be the ones who have to change? No dice dawg, roll on cloning and pass me that machine gun, I gotta score to settle with some endangered condors!
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Re: Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

Postby Typical Michael » Thu May 30, 2013 5:18 pm

I sort of wish it was possible to clone some of the North American mega-fauna. That would get me pretty jazzed.
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Re: Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

Postby revereche » Thu May 30, 2013 5:24 pm

I want a giant sloth. That's all I've ever wanted.
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Re: Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

Postby Marcuse » Thu May 30, 2013 6:17 pm

I want this. I want to ride it into battle...

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Re: Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

Postby revereche » Thu May 30, 2013 9:21 pm

You could ride a giant sloth into battle! . . . Eventually.
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Re: Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

Postby D-LOGAN » Thu May 30, 2013 11:03 pm

Pffft, look at the stubby little wings on that yoke! They're pathetic, no wonder it went extinct, sure I've seen swans with bigger wings than that. If you're trying to impress me you have failed.! I shall bid you good day sir, I SAID GOOD DAY!
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Re: Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

Postby Deathclaw_Puncher » Thu May 30, 2013 11:55 pm

Behold, the cave bear!
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Re: Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

Postby Learned Nand » Fri May 31, 2013 1:26 am

That 1.34m at the shoulder? Isn't that much smaller than you are, ETBJ?
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Terry Pratchett wrote:The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.

Click for a Limerick
OrangeEyebrows wrote:There once was a guy, Aviel,
whose arguments no one could quell.
He tested with Turing,
his circuits fried during,
and now we'll have peace for a spell.
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Re: Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

Postby Typical Michael » Sat Jun 15, 2013 4:51 pm

aviel wrote:That 1.34m at the shoulder? Isn't that much smaller than you are, ETBJ?


I'm not going to mess with it. Go ahead, aviel. You first.
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Re: Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

Postby Learned Nand » Sat Jun 15, 2013 4:55 pm

Well it just seems odd that Eric would brag about how his ancestors were barely bigger than wolves.
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Terry Pratchett wrote:The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.

Click for a Limerick
OrangeEyebrows wrote:There once was a guy, Aviel,
whose arguments no one could quell.
He tested with Turing,
his circuits fried during,
and now we'll have peace for a spell.
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Re: Science: Mammoth Blood for the Blood God!

Postby Typical Michael » Sat Jun 15, 2013 5:15 pm

aviel wrote:Well it just seems odd that Eric would brag about how his ancestors were barely bigger than wolves.


Image

That's pretty damn big.

I am pretty sure the Dire Wolf was something like 3 feet tall, 175 lbs.
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