5 ms·

Nope! Siberia (especially Northern) is basically an uninhabited land. We can surely host a lot of mammoths and wooly rhinos there. Why can't we have a new pet

Nope! Siberia (especially Northern) is basically an uninhabited land. We can surely host a lot of mammoths and wooly rhinos there. Why can't we have a new pet now?

wavefunction 9y ago
Have you been paying any attention to climate change? Y'all are the last sorta folks that deserve ANYTHING. "Me me me."
- dang 9y ago
  Attacking other users will get your account banned on HN regardless of how good your cause is. We've warned you before, so please don't post like this again.
credit_guy 9y ago
Oh, it's gonna happen. The technology is not quite there yet, but it's advancing rapidly. What do you think, if you can prove you have a decent shot to do it, will YCombinator support you?
ktRolster 9y ago
From what I've read, the hard part isn't cloning, we already have that technology. The hard part is growing it in a womb, where the baby is bathed in various chemicals at various times in its progression, and where the temperature has to be exactly right. Where do you attach the umbilical cord? Do you know what the body temperature of the womb a pregnant mammoth is? Tough question.
- yorwba 9y ago
  Unless we figure out a way to make artificial wombs, our best bet is just to use an elephant for that. Since mammoths are unlikely to differ much in terms of body temperature and nutrient requirements, the problems you mention won't be much of an issue. More problematic would be immune system incompatibility, which could lead to the mammoth or its elephant mother being killed by the other's immune system response. But I think we have a way to deal with that when it happens in humans, so there should be a workaround. Anyway, first you need to get some cells with mammoth DNA to divide often enough. Before you have that, those other problems don't really matter much.
  - ktRolster 9y ago
    Since mammoths are unlikely to differ much in terms of body temperature and nutrient requirements, the problems you mention won't be much of an issue. Everything I've read suggests it will be a huge issue.
    - yorwba 9y ago
      Could you point me to where specifically you have read that? Every article I can find on the internet seems to assume that using an Asian elephant as the surrogate mother will be as easy (i.e. very hard) as if we had living mammoths to carry the clone.
      - bamboozled 9y ago
        What will the Elephant think about that?
      - ktRolster 9y ago
        I sent an email to the team at MIT back in 1997 when the mammoth clone news first started hitting the rounds (maybe it's older, I don't know). Even getting a hybrid asian/african elephant baby to survive is very difficult. How big would a mammoth baby be at birth? Could it even fit in the womb? All that said, if someone does manage to clone mammoths, that will be very cool.
        RugnirViking 9y ago
        Just to clarify: Are you suggesting that mammoths were bigger than elephants are now? That would be interesting

Nope! Siberia (especially Northern) is basically an uninhabited land. We can surely host a lot of mammoths and wooly rhinos there. Why can't we have a new pet now?

wavefunction 9y ago

Have you been paying any attention to climate change? Y'all are the last sorta folks that deserve ANYTHING. "Me me me."

dang 9y ago
Attacking other users will get your account banned on HN regardless of how good your cause is. We've warned you before, so please don't post like this again.

credit_guy 9y ago

Oh, it's gonna happen. The technology is not quite there yet, but it's advancing rapidly. What do you think, if you can prove you have a decent shot to do it, will YCombinator support you?

ktRolster 9y ago

From what I've read, the hard part isn't cloning, we already have that technology. The hard part is growing it in a womb, where the baby is bathed in various chemicals at various times in its progression, and where the temperature has to be exactly right. Where do you attach the umbilical cord? Do you know what the body temperature of the womb a pregnant mammoth is? Tough question.

yorwba 9y ago
Unless we figure out a way to make artificial wombs, our best bet is just to use an elephant for that. Since mammoths are unlikely to differ much in terms of body temperature and nutrient requirements, the problems you mention won't be much of an issue. More problematic would be immune system incompatibility, which could lead to the mammoth or its elephant mother being killed by the other's immune system response. But I think we have a way to deal with that when it happens in humans, so there should be a workaround. Anyway, first you need to get some cells with mammoth DNA to divide often enough. Before you have that, those other problems don't really matter much.
- ktRolster 9y ago
  Since mammoths are unlikely to differ much in terms of body temperature and nutrient requirements, the problems you mention won't be much of an issue. Everything I've read suggests it will be a huge issue.
  - yorwba 9y ago
    Could you point me to where specifically you have read that? Every article I can find on the internet seems to assume that using an Asian elephant as the surrogate mother will be as easy (i.e. very hard) as if we had living mammoths to carry the clone.
    - bamboozled 9y ago
      What will the Elephant think about that?
    - ktRolster 9y ago
      I sent an email to the team at MIT back in 1997 when the mammoth clone news first started hitting the rounds (maybe it's older, I don't know). Even getting a hybrid asian/african elephant baby to survive is very difficult. How big would a mammoth baby be at birth? Could it even fit in the womb? All that said, if someone does manage to clone mammoths, that will be very cool.
      - RugnirViking 9y ago
        Just to clarify: Are you suggesting that mammoths were bigger than elephants are now? That would be interesting