The Mammoth Cometh: NYT Magazine longread on bringing back extinct animals

[Queequeg]

It's an incredibly long read, so I won't post it here.

Really interesting though.

[Liep]

Just do it already. Also jetpacks.

[crazy canuck]

There was an interesting documentary about how there is also an effort to bring back the Passenger Pigeon from extinction.  Hasnt been gone for as long obviously but it seems this field of de-extinction is growing.

[celedhring]

There was an interesting documentary about how there is also an effort to bring back the Passenger Pigeon from extinction.  Hasnt been gone for as long obviously but it seems this field of de-extinction is growing.

That's actually what the piece is mostly about.

Interesting read.

[derspiess]

Seeing real live mammoths would be cool as hell.  A silly bird?  Pass.

[Razgovory]

When I first saw this thread I thought a giant Ice ball was coming toward Earth.

[The Brain]

There was an interesting documentary about how there is also an effort to bring back the Passenger Pigeon from extinction.  Hasnt been gone for as long obviously but it seems this field of de-extinction is growing.

Jetpacks for pigeons sounds retarded.

[crazy canuck]

You will just have to work a bit harder for it.

[jimmy olsen]

Cloning passenger pigeons successfully will likely be impossible. They simply require to large a flock too make it practical. You can clone a few dozens Mammoths and let nature take it's course, will observing the herd and making sure to ensure genetic diversity. You can't do the same with passenger pigeons, you'd need to clone millions.

[crazy canuck]

Cloning passenger pigeons successfully will likely be impossible. They simply require to large a flock to make it practical.

Timmay, they will likely be able to recreate a passenger.  Whether that will have any practical meaning given that the bird flocked in large numbers is another question.

[Caliga]

You can't do the same with passenger pigeons, you'd need to clone millions.

Why?

[PRC]

Seeing real live mammoths would be cool as hell.  A silly bird?  Pass.

Seeing flocks of them that are miles wide and hundreds of miles long taking half a day to pass would be a cool as hell sight.

[Eddie Teach]

Jeff Goldblum doesn't think this is a good idea.

[Admiral Yi]

You can't do the same with passenger pigeons, you'd need to clone millions.

Why?

They'd get lonely.

[KRonn]

Seeing real live mammoths would be cool as hell.  A silly bird?  Pass.

Seeing flocks of them that are miles wide and hundreds of miles long taking half a day to pass would be a cool as hell sight.

I would think that many birds would put a strain on other species, eating more food, taking more nesting space. Probably as those pigeons declined other specie's numbers surged.