{"id":143455,"date":"2021-10-27T20:43:56","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T15:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=143455"},"modified":"2021-10-27T20:43:56","modified_gmt":"2021-10-27T15:13:56","slug":"a-mammoth-project-to-help-endangered-species-and-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/a-mammoth-project-to-help-endangered-species-and-planet\/","title":{"rendered":"A mammoth project to help endangered species and planet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Synopsis: <\/strong>A US based company has taken a project to introduce a hybrid of extinct Mammoth and Elephants.<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/h5>\n

A US bio-startup “Colossal” launched a project to regenerate the extinct woolly mammoth, or rather to create an elephant-mammoth hybrid<\/strong> with mammoth characteristics, through gene-sequencing and gene-splicing technology, CRISPR.<\/p>\n

The mammoth went extinct around 1650 BCE \u2014 less than 4,000 years ago. Since mammoths lived in cold, permafrost areas, well-preserved mammoth DNA is available. Mammoths were related to Asian elephants, with 99.6 per cent of DNA in common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Must Read<\/strong>: Bringing woolly mammoths back from extinction might not be such a bad idea – ethicists explain<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
How the experiment will be done?<\/h5>\n

If the genes unique to mammoths are inserted into Asian elephant DNA, a viable hybrid embryo may result. The gene splicing technology, CRISPR, which allows easy cut-and paste insertion (and deletion) of genes may be capable of the delicate editing necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the expected outcome?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Experiment claims it could create \u201ca cold-resistant elephant<\/strong> with all of the core biological traits of the Woolly Mammoth\u201d \u2014 thick woolly coat, fat deposits, small ears, curling large tusks to push through frozen ground to access buried vegetation.<\/p>\n

It may lead to insights that may help prevent modern elephant extinction<\/strong>, and also advances in multiplex CRISPR editing, as well as possibly establishing links between genetics and climate change.<\/span><\/p>\n

It can help reverse climate change<\/strong>\u201d, \u201chelp endangered species\u201d, and \u201cupset existing ecosystems\u201d.<\/p>\n

What are the concerns and challenges?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It is being expected that if the hybrid could be introduced in large numbers, it would disrupt the current ecological balance by uprooting trees, and thus return the Tundra to the grasslands of 4,000 years ago.<\/strong> This would mean better carbon absorption and limit damage from global warming, which is now leading to a massive unfreezing of the Arctic. However, this might be an exaggeration as it presupposes the hybrid could be introduced in large enough numbers to change the ecosystem and also that it wouldn\u2019t have negative consequences on other species.<\/span><\/p>\n

Size differences-<\/strong> Another challenge is the size difference. Female Asian elephants are smaller in height and weight than the mammoth. Female African elephants are larger than Asian elephants, so the hybrid em\u00adbryo transferred to an African elephant, is more suited to carrying a larger foetus to term.<\/p>\n

Source:<\/strong> This post is based on the article \u201cA mammoth project to help endangered species and planet<\/strong>\u201d published in \u201cBusiness Standard<\/strong>\u201d on 26th Oct 2021.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Synopsis: A US based company has taken a project to introduce a hybrid of extinct Mammoth and Elephants. Introduction A US bio-startup “Colossal” launched a project to regenerate the extinct woolly mammoth, or rather to create an elephant-mammoth hybrid with mammoth characteristics, through gene-sequencing and gene-splicing technology, CRISPR. The mammoth went extinct around 1650 BCE… Continue reading A mammoth project to help endangered species and planet<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10335,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[216],"class_list":["post-143455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-3","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704903075},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10335"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143455\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}