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Project page from the company doing the engineering: * https://colossal.com/mammoth/ https://colossal.com/mammoth/ The following statement from the same page
by goplayoutside 3y ago
Project page from the company doing the engineering:
* https://colossal.com/mammoth/ https://colossal.com/mammoth/
The following statement from the same page appears to be their support for the claim that bringing the mammoth back from extinction will benefit the environment:
>The loss of these large cold-tolerant Mammoths over the past 10,000 years has stripped this ecosystem of the grasslands that once efficiently absorbed carbon. Instead, there are mossy forests and wetlands, which aren’t as helpful with combating rising temperatures. However, if the Mammoth Steppe ecosystem could be revived, it could help in reversing the rapid warming of the climate and more pressingly, protect the arctic’s permafrost - one of the world’s largest carbon reservoirs.
>Re-establishing an ecosystem filled with grasslands will help to create a cycle that prevents the thaw and release of stored greenhouse gases within the arctic permafrost. With cold-tolerant elephant mammoth hybrids grazing the grasslands and roaming comfortably during the winters, they scrape away layers of snow, so that the cold air can reach the soil. This also allows grasslands to thrive and since they’re lighter than forestry, the snow won’t melt as quickly. Making way for another benefit - a surface that reflects the Sun’s radiation.
- gslepak 3y agoHow is bringing back the Mammoth going to do any of that?
- jbotz 3y agoRead up on Allan Savory; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Savory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Savory
- anon84873628 3y agoIt's an appealing theory but unfortunately doesn't hold much water. That Wikipedia article covers the criticism. Savory himself conveniently believes HPG can't be proven with science, which is a pretty big red flag. Studies suggest it is better than unmanaged grazing but not as good as no grazing. So, a useful idea but not the claimed panacea.
- anon84873628 3y agoAfrican elephants destroy trees and thus maintain a more open savannah. They prevent the ecosystem from advancing to later stages of forest succession. Two main feeding behaviors do this: 1) stripping whole branches and bark which kills the tree; 2) uprooting the trees and eating the roots. Presumably mammoths could be similar...
- barbariangrunge 3y agoTo restore the grasslands? Hate to break it to you, but the bison did that too. I know a few people who study or give talks those creatures and reintroducing those to habitats is maddeningly difficult. Nobody wants a herd of bison wandering into town, or on the highway, nobody will allow them to be wild near any settled area And these people want to introduce mammoths? What is their plan here, when we can’t even reintroduce non-extinct species to their old habitats? Also, grasslands are the most endangered habitat in the world, but it isn’t because of a lack of mammoths: it’s because we build our farms and cities and highways in grassland areas. If we had 4x as much grassland, farmers would just claim it. Fescue grass (I forget the spelling) barely can be found these days outside of national parks
- oatmeal1 3y agoAre grasslands that have permafrost under them really the grassland that has been taken over by agriculture? I would imagine the grassland mammoths can restore is different from grassland bison could restore. I'd also imagine the places cold enough for mammoths would also be places there aren't any people.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]