Park Calling Park
By Mithun (Check out his blog Unmyth with Mithun here)
Summer of '94, In the peak heat of April, I managed to get tickets of Jurassic Park for the family, after standing in queue for few hours and to get better seats in the holiday rush at theatres and the rave reviews this movie had received, firing imaginations of the viewers globally and India.
The 2.5 hrs we spent in the Park, was captivating and this transcended us into a different world and that stayed for few days, the following days our dining table conversations centred around the discussions of Mammoths, Dinosaurs and huge parks to visit, the evolution and devolution of these Mammoths.
I remember asking my self and family, whether we will get to see these in our lifetime. Cut to 2024, with Dalas based Colossal, the biotech company actively working to reincarnate the ancient beast. Has received $60 million of funding and they are confident of de-exitinction of the woolly Mammoth and putting them back in Siberia and other places by 2027, this news article blew me and took me back to the wild imaginations, I watched the entire series of Jurassic Park and the way it has progressed through sequels. Creative fiction turning into reality, the role science is playing and the grants to support such enadeavours is heartening to see.
The gene editing will help Colossal create an embryo of a woolly mammoth. They will place the embryo in an African elephant to take advantage of its size and allow it to give birth to the new woolly mammoth. The eventual goal is to then repopulate parts of the Arctic with the new woolly mammoth and strengthen local plant life with the migration patterns and dietary habits of the beast.
The woolly mammoth’s DNA is a 99.6 percent match of the Asian elephant, which leads Colossal to believe it’s well on its way toward achieving its goal. “They’re already in the process of the de-extinction of the Woolly Mammoth. Their teams have collected viable DNA samples and are editing the genes that will allow this wonderful megafauna to once again thunder through the Arctic.”
This, brings to the fore few pertinent questions, how will this pan out and imaginations have running wild.
1. Do we have the same temperatures, flora fauna and the bio-diversity to feed these Mamoths
2. It's been 10,000 years since their extinction and times are changed, how will they adjust to the new normal
3. What will they evolve further into
4. What if they go wild and lead to destruction of the present
5. How will this propel science into brining back the extinct species
While, Colossal plans to introduce the animal into parts of Siberia or other regions that share similar characteristics with the bygone home of the Ice Age mammoth. For putting a mammoth-like animal back on the tundra, they have shared the long list of benefits in bringing back these Mamoths, according to Colossal’s website.
a. The woolly mammoth’s vast migration patterns an active part of preserving the health of the Arctic, and so bringing the animal back to life can have a beneficial impact on the health of the world’s ecosystem.
b. Help boost numbers of elephants, whose populations are shrinking
c. The mammoth’s old stomping grounds would help restore the ecological landscape to its former self, in part by compacting the snow cover to prevent greenhouse gas emissions from escaping the permafrost.
d. Slow down climate change The company also expects that this project will help bolster knowledge of how to apply genetic tools to lost-species recovery efforts.
e. The woolly mammoth genes to improve the diversity of an endangered species. The resulting Mammophants would also have genetic tweaks that would give them resistance to Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus, a viral disease that is fatal and contributing to the downfall of Asian elephants. Like the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park—which had a cascade effect on restoring an ecosystem—a modified elephant has a better chance of surviving in the long run, and would fill a missing large animal niche in the ecology of the tundra. “We would like to start with regions of the Arctic with high soil carbon and low human population density,” Quotes Colossal co-founder George Church.
With the above arguments and questions, it will be good to bring these creatures into existence under close and controlled environment, rather than just leaving them out in the open, when they have not seen the evolution process, there are lessons to be learn't when Cheetah's from Kenya are transported to Indian jungles, there have been casualties and their existence in the new environment is always in question because of the feed available, the change in temperatures and the change in landscape.
What if the Mammophants, turn out to be wild beast, with the size being the matter of concern, we have seen the incidents of Elephants going berserk and going on rampage and brining loss o property and life.
Is the Artic strong enough to hold this size of animals and its stomping, given the increased temperatures, will this lead to a snowball effect.
Is there a need to further study the adverses than be in a rush to release a realty show in the Park and play BIG BOSS.
I have marked two dates on my calender to visit the Park.
July 2025 - Jurassic Park - Deadline (New instalment)
February 2027 - Mammophants Park (In the Artic)
Citation:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a42708517/scientists-reincarnating-woolly-mammoth/
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a42757968/bringing-back-the-woolly-mammoth/
This blog is part of a series of entries received for the OpenTakshashila National Science Day Blog Contest 2024 on the theme of ‘Scientists are bringing the woolly mammoth back - should they?’ The blog is republished with permission. The views belong to the author(s) and do not represent Takshashila’s position on the issue.
