Kirti Manjit
It is estimated that the woolly mammoth population numbers began to dwindle about 10,000 years ago, and they eventually went extinct around 4,000 years ago. Fossil records show that they lived on every continent except for South American and Australia. These large herbivores had certain adaptations, the most obvious being their woolly fur, to help them thrive in the extreme temperatures during the Ice Age. Scientists have concluded that the main reason for the woolly mammoths’ extinction was climate change, since these animals struggled to adjust to the increasing global temperatures. It is also likely that human contact had an influence on this extinction because ancient humans hunted these creatures for their meat, skin, and bones. The closest living ancestors of woolly mammoths are the Asian elephants.
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| An Asian elephant calf |
Before we get too excited over the idea of reviving woolly mammoths, it is important to take into consideration that scientists are actually working on reviving just the characteristics of woolly mammoths. A team of Harvard geneticists led by George Church are interested in incorporating some of the woolly mammoth genes into the DNA of Asian elephants, thereby making an organism “whose DNA is largely elephant, but with a smattering of judiciously-placed mammoth DNA”. Even if this group of scientists are able to create a viable hybrid embryo from a cloned elephant egg cell, there are multiple other challenges that would arise, such as how the team would nourish the embryo (artificially or through a surrogate Asian elephant). Therefore, this project still has a long way to go before scientists will be able to release these organisms into the wild.
Scientists hope that the introduction of this mammoth-elephant hybrid in the Arctic tundra will reduce the impacts of climate change by preventing the emission of greenhouse gases. Tundras have a frozen layer of soil called permafrost. As the temperature of the planet increases due to climate change, the permafrost begins to melt. This process releases greenhouse gases, such as methane, into the atmosphere, which further increases the average temperature of the globe, resulting in a positive feedback loop. When elephant like creatures roamed the tundra in the past, the ground was rich with grass. The lack of shrubs and small trees allowed the cold air to keep the permafrost frozen. However, as these species went extinct, the shrubs became more abundant and took the place of the grasses. These plants serve as a layer of insulation between the permafrost and the cold air, which causes the permafrost to melt quicker. This is an urgent issue because 1,400 gigatons of carbon is at risk of escaping into the atmosphere if the permafrost melts. Despite this, science and technology may provide us a method to solve this problem. Combining elephant DNA with mammoth DNA would allow the hybrids to sustain the cold temperatures in the tundra. This species has the potential to limit the growth of the plants and keep the permafrost frozen, just like their extinct genetic relatives. In addition, if the introduction of mammoth-elephant hybrids were to succeed, it would pave the path for the reintroduction of more previously extinct genes in the future, increasing biodiversity within ecosystems.
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| A frozen mammoth specimen named Lyuba |
This would not be the first time that science and technology have played a role in bringing extinct species back to life. In 2003, a Pyrenean ibex (previously declared extinct in 2000) was born in a laboratory in Spain. However, this animal did not live for very long and took a lot of time and money. This raises the question of whether or not creating the elephant-mammoth hybrid is actually worth it. Furthermore, elephant eggs and surrogate elephants would be required for cloning portion of this project. Since our knowledge of the cloning process is limited, the lives of these elephant mothers would be put at risk. This is important to note because the Asian elephant is an endangered species, and this project could increase the stress on their decreasing population numbers. On the other hand, this process can also be carried out by reprogramming elephant skin cells into stem cells and then into egg cells, which eliminates the need for invasive procedures to obtain elephant egg cells for the cloning process. Scientists may also be able to use artificial wombs instead of putting the lives of elephants at risk. However, this is no easy task and will take many years to achieve, if it even is possible.
Questions: Do you think that the possible benefits of creating this elephant mammoth hybrid outweigh the risks and costs? If we have the resources and technology to create a new species or bring back extinct ones, should we do so? What are your predictions for this project and future ones?
Sources:
- www.livescience.com/56678-woolly-mammoth-facts.html
- www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/can-bringing-back-mammoths-stop-climate-change-180969072/
- www.livescience.com/62569-mammoth-elephant-hybrid-help-climate.html
- www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170221-reviving-woolly-mammoths-will-take-more-than-two-years
27 comments:
I don’t think the possible benefits of creating this elephant mammoth hybrid outweighs the risks and costs. They can prevent 1,400 gigatons of carbon. That would help in our battle against climate change immensely. However, the costs are very high, and if this hybrid isn’t able to live long enough to even help, we have just wasted millions of dollars on a failed project. Additionally, the Asian elephant is an endangered species, so if this experiment were to fail, we would just be causing more harm to a close to extinct species. This would result in a whole ecosystem being altered, as biodiversity would decrease. Although the possible benefits are brilliant, the high risk factor of this experiment outweighs the benefits. If there was technology that guaranteed the creation of these former extinct species, then I think we should, especially ones that can prevent 1,400 gigatons of carbon emissions, but the technology has to be developed well before we start testing it on everything and wasting money and harming species.
In my opinion, it is unwise for us to introduce an extinct species back on the earth. It is statistically impossible to determine all of the pros and cons of messing with the ecosystem because the possibilities are infinite. Human error and simple miscalculations are also sufficient reasons as to why we shouldn’t proceed with introducing the mammoth back on the planet. Say we do pull through with this foolish idea, if the species damages the environment or causes unanticipated problems, it would be impossible to revert the changes. The only two solution at that point would be to hope for the best or kill off the mammoth population again in order to prevent any further damage. Either way, this should be enough to convince us not to fiddle with the intricacies of the environment and the food web.
I belive that we should create a hybrid wooly Mammoth because not only do the downsides outweigh the benefits, but I also think that introducing an extinct species into our world is a bada idea. First, I believe that spending that much money to bring back an extinct species, with chances of the species dying again, is a complete waster of money. We should be putting that money and investing into endangered species that could also potentially help the environment. Also, I believe that introducing a species that lived in the ice age into our world, which is significantly hotter is a terrible idea. Finally, I believe that messing around with our current food web and ecosystem is a bad idea, and we should just left things be the way they are.
I believe that the risks outweigh the benefits of inputting wooly mammoth DNA into Asian Elephants. I agree that something must be done to prevent the permafrost from melting, but this solution seems too risky. Not only would the experiment be very expensive, but if it were to fail, that would result tons of money wasted on a failed experiment when it could’ve been used for other solutions to the issue. In addition, because the Asian Elephant is an endangered species, we should work to preserve their species rather than using it for an experiment that scientists aren’t entirely confident in. Rather, I believe that scientists should either develop new technology that would guarantee success to this experiment or find other solutions to help preserve the permafrost.
I think that the possible benefits of creating this elephant mammoth hybrid do not really outweigh the risks and costs because there is a significantly high chance that this hybrid may not survive long due to the lack of technology developed for this issue. Instead, humans should focus more on fixing the human-caused carbon emission problems (like trying to limit our resource use and reusing & recycling our materials as much as possible). However, if we have the resources and technology to create a new species or bring back extinct ones (this kinda gives me Jurassic Park vibes though...), I'm not sure we should create new species or bring back extinct ones because I think it would be very difficult for these created or revived species to adapt and survive in the current environments in our world.
I believe that the risks of this potential re-introduction outweigh the benefits. Although the hybrids could help with climate change, they are expensive and might hurt other species, such as the Asian Elephant, more than it could help them. If scientists could develop the hybrid, what would happen? Would there be a "Jurassic Park"-like result? In addition, the hybrid could disturb the already existing species in the environment. We should use the immense amount of money that this project will cost to protect and help the current endangered species in the world, rather than reviving what has already been lost.
While I believe that it would be incredible and potentially beneficial to revive the legendary wooly mammoth, I feel it is too risky as there are too many unknown effects and issues that could occur if it were to go wrong. For instance, like in Jurassic Park, they spent a lot of money and time creating a hybrid super dinosaur that ended up wreaking havoc on the park. Maybe we wont have such an extreme case, but there is yet to be said what would happen to the flow of an ecosystem if we were to develop them, it could disrupt a food chain, or consume another species to extinction or even introduce diseases that could wipe out unsuspecting native species. All in all, it would be very cool, but i think what is already dead, should stay dead, for we don’t know what we could do Even if we do succeed. Where would we put them? How would they survive? There are just simply too many questions to safely decide what to do.
While it personally excites me that there is probably a way to bring back extinct species, it will most likely lead to chaos. Like everyone said this is very reminiscent to movies and literature on how when humans play "god" bad, bad things occur. While this could lead to Frankenstein or Jurassic-park-like-scenarios there is an argument to be made about the several benefits this could have. Sure, humans aren't supposed to interfere with the natural order of things but we've already been doing that for centuries, I feel like this is no different from current human involvement in nature (think man-caused climate change, GMOs). What if this science could aid in reversing damages caused by humans (the Dodo didn't just go extinct by itself you know) Also not despite how often it is used the argument that if we aren't the ones who utilize and develop this technology it will be developed by "bad guys" anyway has some merit.
I do not think that it is worth the time and resources to create this elephant mammoth hybrid. We are not only introducing an unknown element into the community but also potentially harming another already in danger. While the idea of a new animal with never seen before traits seem exciting, it doesn't make sense to dump all your assets into something that isn't sustainable and long-lasting. Even if we had all the resources to bring a species back, I don't think we should meddle in nature's selection because who knows what future consequences would follow. Bringing this one species may take away food supply from another species or become a predator and mess up the balance of the food web. I think that scientists will continue to attempt cracking this puzzle but it will be hard to solve in a permanent way.
I believe that there are too many risks of creating the mammoth hybrid. It will take many tries to accurately create the hybrid, due to the lack of experience and certain types of technology scientists do not have. With this creation, carbon emissions would be extremely high, which would greatly impact our environment. We also can’t predict whether creating this hybrid will negatively affect other living species in our ecosystem. We have no previous calculations to understand how this hybrid can impact our planet. This reminds me of the movie “Jurassic Park”. In the movie, the dinosaurs shredded the island. Creating man-made species can cause many damages or hurt the environment. Our ecosystem now is not accustomed to life species that lived thousands of years ago.
I believe that the downsides of this project outweigh the possible benefits. First off, I believe that the whole project may cross ethical guidelines in the sense that Asian elephants may be harmed through this process. Secondly, is a single species really going to take care of a such an immense issue? I believe that several species will be required for this issue to be faced with proficiency. Although we can agree that the reintroduction of this species may initially increase biodiversity, can we say with certainty that they will increase the biodiversity rather than becoming an invasive species that ends up harming biodiversity? Furthermore, with the amount of time it will take for this project to be executed, will there even be a considerable amount of permafrost to maintain? I believe that the time and resources being used for this project may be better used in developing a more sustainable method of energy use or even reversing the global emissions.
This is an extremely interesting and complicated argument. I think that if what this argument says is true if it is believed that the hybrid can be produced without causing detrimental harm to the Asian Elephant species I believe that the solution is worth a try. However, it should be argues that whenever humans interfere with ecosystems by introducing new species it usually has effects far outside of their expectations. For example, settlers brought weasels to Hawaii to take care of the rat problem, but after they killed the rats they wreaked havoc on the local bird species. I don't believe we should interfere in evolution in the ecological sense meaning I don't believe we should introduce our own hybrids into nature. Nature has been successful in creating complex systems, and I don't believe we would be successful in doing it on our own. I predict that the money necessary to go into this project will not be easily met, and the project will not be completed. Many people are very sensitive about tampering with genetics and are opposed to GMOs in their food and I can't imagine that these people would turn around and support the creation of a hybrid.
Though the premise of this project seems like something from a science fiction movie, it could be very helpful to reversing climate change. As technology improves upon itself, this complex proposal will only get easier and cost less. At this time, I believe it is more practical to wait until technology can improve this process, so that the price and time factor is less. Instead, we must use this money and research into a plethora of potential fields that help combat climate change. However, whenever that technology is more readily available and proves more beneficial than the alternative, we must invest in this idea for the sake of the environment. To be honest, I never considered that recreating woolly mammoth could potentially help combat climate change. However, I believe that in the future, we must utilize this technology to revive extinct species and reverse human impact.
As amazing as it is that technology and science has advanced to the point of being able to bring animals back to life, I am not sure if the revival of wooly mammoths will be worth it. Although they could decrease the rising temperatures in their respective habitats by halting the permafrost melting and warming positive feedback loop, they would disrupt the existing system. The introduction of a completely new species that hasn't been around for centuries will change not only the landscape but the entire ecosystem. The time and effort taken to research all possible outcomes and effects of the re-introduction of this species is not worth it. In my humble opinion, I believe scientists should focus their time and given money to maintaining existing species and preventing them from going extinct rather than trying to bring back extinct species. Even if a modified wooly mammoth was able to be produced, it will probably not be able to adapt as the world is a lot hotter and different than it was during the ice age. It is important to remember the species evolve and not individuals, therefore it will be near impossible to maintain a mammoth species in today's world.
The prospect of finding genes from currently extinct mammoths and combining them with asian elephants seems impossible, but if we could carry it out it seems that perhaps they could help to save the permafrost. This is a very interesting concept and one I haven’t yet heard about. One of my main concerns with this is that I feel we should be working harder to save the endangered animals we still have today rather than trying to bring back ones we have already killed off. I feel if these mammoth experiments continued and expanded, there would be less eyes on the protection of threatened species. Furthermore, if we are able to essentially bring back to life extinct species, some may raise the question of why care so much about the animals we have now if we can always bring them back? This possible argument is very frightening and may cause more destruction than we have ever imagined. Because of these reasons, I don’t feel as though the benefits outweigh the risks at this point in history. Instead of taking a huge jump in researching what may never be possible, it is important that we help the world and the animals that are on it in ways we know for a fact will work.
The concept of bringing animals back from time would be very interesting, but I'm not sure if it would be smart to introduce a brand new species into an environment without at least measuring for the consequences. However, if we can improve the process to develop these animals with less time and money while preventing any of the issues that can develop with food chains.
Extinct species became extinct because they were unable to adapt to the environment. Fundamentally, nature selected against them evolutionarily. Reintroducing an extinct species, especially one as large as the wooly mammoth, would mean spending millions of dollars trying to work against nature to keep them alive. There is also no way of knowing what effect it will have on the ecosystem. Would the mammoth become an invasive species and replace niche organisms and destabilize the community? We cannot account for every possible variable and outcome. The money funding projects such as this should be put towards preserving and cleaning current ecosystems and implementing greener practices.
While bringing animals back from extinction would make up for the environmental disasters humans have caused, the cost of the project may not be worth it in the long run. Despite the issue of releasing 1,400 gigantones of carbon through melting permafrost, there’s no guarantee that the mammoth will live long, similarly to the Pyrenean ibex dying shortly after being recreated. If we do end up having working technology to bring back extinct species, in my opinion, we should bring back species that recently went extinct and were confirmed to be extinct through human actions as some species in the past became extinct through natural selection.
Being able to bring back an extinct animal might help us undo some of the environmental damage we have caused. However, at the moment the time and cost to do this may not be worth it, as we have no idea what the effects of reintroducing an animal into a habitat are. When more research is done and a safer, cheaper way to breed extinct animals is found, it will be a viable way to reduce our effects on ecosystems and once again increase biodiversity.
I’m very supportive of the creation of this hybrid animal, but there is the conflict of the cost. With this in mind, scientists should take extra precaution on their use of money and tracking down the expenses used for this project. I believe that they should have a test group of one or two elephants and see if their results are successful in creating the characteristics of a mammoth. That way there would be less of an impact on our elephant population and we’re efficient with our resources in case they deplete. If this becomes successful and the mammoth population does help out the tundra, we could use this technique to bring back other species that have gone extinct, or on the brink of extinction. If this hybrid formation is not successful, then we should just work to repay the cost for the treatment of the hybrid formation, then consider going a different path to exchange animals for environmental benefit.
To quote the esteemed Michael Scott, “[softly] Don’t.” I think that resurfacing an extinct animal, even in partiality, could bring up unexpected results at worst, or just be a waste of time and rescources at best. And I’m not talking about prehistoric parks either, though that is nothing to sniff at. By taking an animal and placing it in a niche that has not existed for thousands of thousands of years, humans would essentially be creating an invasive species from another time instead of another place. And it’s good that they are hoping to protect the glaciers and permafrost with the mammoth hybrids, but more effort could go into regulating and conserving organisms now to protect the biosphere that exists instead of creating one from scratch. I do not doubt the genetic capacity, but I doubt the impact this would have onto the bigger picture: what would eat it, what it would eat, how many were made, and how much human regulation would be needed.
My idea:
First try to stop the Asian elephant from being extinct from ivory trade before trying to make a mammoth out of it.
Count your chickens before you decide to breed an eagle.
Although the revival of wooly mammoths seems like an intriguing feat that has some environmental benefits, I think it's also important to note the negative impacts it might have. By reviving wooly mammoths, which have been dead for thousands of years, scientists would be disrupting food chains and webs. This could have catastrophic effects on the environment. Yes, there is also the argument that these mammoths would be protecting glaciers and permafrost. However, I think that we should explore other options rather than just introducing a species into the ecosystem.
While in theory the idea of creating a new species to help our environments sounds good, I feel that in actuality it would be too hard to pull off. The cost, both environmentally from resource use and energy consumption and economically, would be too great to possibly outweigh the benefits a new specifies would provide. I think that if this were to be tested on a small scale and the technology were to improve it would be interesting far in the future, but as things stand today our money would be better devoted to other means of conservation. In addition, the wooly mammoth went extinct so long ago that little concrete evidence about how they would survive and function in today’s world exists, especially in our changed climates with many other species foreign to them would be present.
I think that creating a wooly mammoth is a wonderful idea. There are many advantages to bringing back this animal, such as the prevention of a large release of carbon into the air. If wooly mammoths were proven to help keep the shrubs in the tundra at bay in the past, they should be able to do the same now. However, there must be careful consideration of how the ecosystem will be affected, because the introduction of an invasive species would be a huge drawback to the concept.
I have heard a lot about this experiment over the last few years and I think it brings up a really interesting question of whether it will do more good than harm. Introducing a new species to an environment would completely disrupt to food chain, and would cause an imbalance of populations. I feel like scientists have more important causes to focus on and the moment, and I don’t think this project should take priority. It is also unsure of whether they would even be able to survive today, with limited land resources, different ecosystems, and a different climate. While I think it would be cool to be able to experience wooly mammoths, I think it would cause many problems and lead to many negative environmental impacts.
Regardless of whether wooly mammoths can reduce the effects of climate changes, bringing back extinct species seems dangerous. Bringing back an extinct species may disrupt food webs. I think it would be similar to bringing invasive species into a food web; bringing extinct species into a food web will reduce the amount of resources the noninvasive species get. However, looking at the current condition of the planet, the revival of wooly mammoths may be essential in sustaining the human population. With the increasing negative effects of climate change such as an increase of carbon into the environment, bringing back wooly mammoths may be one of few options to save the planet and save the human race. In the end, it comes down to a matter of ethics.
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