Man, I love woolly mammoths!
They’re like fuzzy elephants!
Actually, that’s kind of exactly what they are.
Hi guys, Catie Wayne here for DNews.
By now I’m sure you’ve all heard of Yuka, the woolly mammoth found in 2010 on the coast
of the Laptev Sea near Russia.
She was found in permafrost, and she is the most in-tact mammoth ever found.
A recent study describes her brain as the best mammoth specimen in the history of paleoneurology!
It’s amazing!
There are folds, and membranes, and blood vessels and all kinds of neat things that
can help us to better understand what their brains were like!
But I know what you’re thinking: does this fantastically preserved mammoth brain bring
us any closer to that sweet, sweet mammoth ride we’ve been dreaming of?
And the answer is “no, unfortunately not.”
As well preserved as the mammoth is, it is certainly not perfect.
Scientists are essentially in exactly the same place that they’ve been for a long
time now.
Trace actually explained this “place” in detail in a DNews from earlier this year.
What it comes down to, is it is EXTREMELY hard to restore mammoth DNA with elephant
DNA.
Like, extremely.
But this is still cool because, a mammoth brain has never been this well preserved before!
While we’re not really any closer to cloning them what we have learned is that mammoth
brains appear to be fairly similar to the brains of elephants today.
But that isn’t particularly surprising because they’re both members of the same family,
the elephantidae.
In fact, the differences between the two aren’t that extreme.
Aside from the Songhua River mammoth which was 17 feet tall, most mammoths weren’t
that much bigger than an African elephant!
Just a few inches taller!
There are certainly minor differences.
I mean they couldn’t be exactly the same or else this whole cloning thing wouldn’t
be a problem.
The mammoth’s tusks were longer and curved, for example.
But a rather significant difference between the two is their actual teeth.
Mammoths had four molars-- two on the top of their mouth and two on the bottom which
they would grind in order to shred the tough plants they ate and two tusks.
Meanwhile elephants typically have 24 teeth and two tusks.
But obviously, there are two extreme differences between them: the mammoths are fuzzy and well,
extinct.
So you guys, with these few differences between them is it even worth cloning the mammoth?
Even though they no longer have a natural place in the wild?
Be sure to let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe to DNews for all
the wonderful content.
See you next time!