Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Cloning a Woolly Mammoth

         Scientists have discovered a well preserved woolly mammoth in Siberia kept at -10 degrees Celsius. Since the woolly mammoth was preserved at such temperatures, when scientists cut into the beast, a dark red liquid starting pouring out. This liquid was blood, scientists now have a very well preserved DNA of the woolly mammoth. South Korean scientists now want to take that DNA and bring back the extinct species. One of the leaders is Isung Hwang a geneticist at Sooam a South Korean biotech company. Sooam has stated that he is "trying hard to make this possible within our generation." The way it would work is that a mammoth embryo would be created and then inserted into an Asian elephant. The Asian elephant would then carry that mammoth to term and hopefully the mammoth would then be born. If the mammoth were cloned there would be much to learn about the once extinct species.
        Although this would be a remarkable breakthrough, there are many ethical issues that should be considered. The ethics behind cloning a mammoth are being debated daily by the scientific community. To clone a mammoth it would be assumed that you would need many Asian elephant surrogates. This is problematic for a species that is close to extinction itself. Elephants are very social animals. They also have a 22-month carrying term. Having them carry another species inside them for a 22 month term only for that animal to damage them, or die right after birth needs to be taken into consideration. Asian elephants also don't do well in captivity. There are also issues with how the ecosystem would be effected by bringing back and extinct animal. What would that animal eat? The extinct animal could potentially interrupt an entire ecosystem. 
        Brining back an extinct animal would be one of the greatest scientific experiments to date. There are a lot of ethical issues with brining back an extinct animal that must also be taken into consideration. To quote Dr. Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park, "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should." Weighing in the ethical issues, I don't think that cloning a mammoth would be just to the Asian elephant that would be forced to carry it. 
Article
Related Article 

No comments:

Post a Comment