Jurassic Park cloning is just around the corner.

[Andrew]

Mammoths may roam again after 27,000 years
By Mark Henderson, Science Editor
BODIES of extinct Ice Age mammals, such as woolly mammoths, that have been frozen in permafrost for thousands of years may contain viable sperm that could be used to bring them back from the dead, scientists said yesterday.

Research has indicated that mammalian sperm can survive being frozen for much longer than was previously thought, suggesting that it could potentially be recovered from species that have died out.

Several well-preserved mammoth carcasses have been found in the permafrost of Siberia, and scientists estimate that there could be millions more.

Last year a Canadian team demonstrated that it was possible to extract DNA from the specimens, and announced the sequencing of about 1 per cent of the genome of a mammoth that died about 27,000 years ago.

With access to the mammoth’s genetic code, and with frozen sperm recovered from testes, it may be possible to resurrect an animal that is very similar to a mammoth.

The mammoth is a close genetic cousin of the modern Asian elephant, and scientists think that the two may be capable of interbreeding.

The frozen mammoth sperm could be injected into elephant eggs, producing offspring that would be 50 per cent mammoth.

Full Story here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,...60,00.html

[Andrew]

Cross a woolly mammoth and an elephant and what do you get?:

Wooly Elemoth
Wooly Mammothant
mammophant
elephammoth
Woolaphant

[Carolann R]

Very cool. It would be nice if our African and Asian Elephants were treated better. Maybe if they were "special" Elephants people wouldn't hunt them. Elephants are one of only three groups of animals on this planet that have large brains, travel in long-lived social groups and have complex social systems...the other two are whales and humans.

They are capable of relatively complex thought processes and have good memory storage and therefore they have the intellectual capacity for using complex acoustic communication.

I had the priviledge to be doused by an African Elephant named Suzie at the Buffalo Zoo when I was about 20. I thought if I pretended to have a peanut in my hand she would put her trunk up to my hand. Well, when she realized I was teasing her I heard a loud funneling noise - suffice it to say that when an elephant squirts you, you don't smell like gardenia. LOL!

Sorry to wander Andrew - they have always been one of my very favorite animals and I feel like crying when I see them pent up in a small area just rocking back and forth.

Carrie

"The opportunities to reach into the lives of others in an inspiring way arise in countless ways every single day..." Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

http://www.hellophoenix.com/art

[mella l]

Cool how about Wooly Mothephant. I love these types of articles thanks Andrew.

mella l

[Cindy B]

Snuffleupagus :-)

Andrew: Cross a woolly mammoth and an elephant and what do you get?:

[Andrew]

Here's my elephant story:

In 1986 my wife and I visited the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala, South India.

We slept and did our own cooking in a 3 room, solid concrete, building with iron bars on the windows and a large concrete moat all around the outside. It was the only building for miles. We shared the place with a couple of Germans who were tourists like us.

When we first arrived at the park entrance our Indian guides received our money and then took us by boat about 30 minutes along a narrow lake to a real wilderness area. After the boat ride they led us on foot about 45 minutes to this guest house out in the middle of the woods.

We asked our guides about the moat and they told us it was to keep the elephants out. They also warned us that there were tigers in the area and to be careful. After the warnings they said goodbye and left.

Well, one afternoon Tina and I decided to take a walk around another arm of the lake that was near the guest house. We walked an hour or so and enjoyed all the sites and sounds of wilderness India.

As the sun began to set, we started to make our way back. We were confronted by a heard of about 9 elephants standing on the path – there were a couple of females and several medium and smaller ones and a male that was BIG. Eight of them stood in a line shoulder to shoulder with their back ends facing us. The Male stood between us and them and stared us down. He stomped his feet and flapped his ears and trumpeted. He glared at us as if to say “You ain’t coming this way. Be gone!”

Dusk was coming on - that’s the time when tigers roam around looking for anything tasty. Tina and I were getting a bit up tight. The lake was to our right and a pretty thick forest was to our left and an unaccommodating pacaderm and his harem were on the path in front of us. We were quiet, we tried to be gentle, we tried to be humble we tried to be as unobtrusive as possible; we tried to sidle our way between the elephants and the lake. The BIG BOSS wasn’t having any of it. The closer we sidled the more he would stomp and flap and snort.

We took off our boots and left them on the path and then started to swim out into the lake to make a circle around the road block (Don’t worry – no crocodiles). I was carrying a camera at the time and it was pretty bloody difficult to swim with one hand while holding the camera out of the water with the other. Anyway we swam a pretty wide circle and came to land on the path that led up to the guest house where we met the Germans. After running up the hill barefoot, we got inside and then heard a reverberating roar coming from the forest. You’ve never seen 2 Germans and two Americans move so fast and trip over themselves so completely trying to slam shut and lock the door.

We spent the next day or so inside with the door locked looking out the window and waiting for our guides to come and escort us back to the park entrance. On our way back along the lake by boat we saw the same heard of elephants crossing the water right in front of us. Watching elephants swim is amazing. They are pretty much covered in water except for the very top of their heads and the tip of their trunks. They do the dog paddle. Or elephant paddle or whatever.

Anyway, I know this story is hard to believe but it is true.

Andrew

[Carolann R]

Oh man Andrew, that is awesome! What a blood-rushing thing to have happen. I guess you got your adventure then, aye? LOL!

I told Mella my elephant story but it will make me look like small potatoes after your story that's for sure!

About 6 years ago I worked in a salon in Scottsdale, AZ. One day someone came in from the City of Scottsdale and talked to the owner of the salon and she asked me to walk across the street to their offices and see why they were asking for a Nail Tech.

They said they were trying to do something fun to promote The Circus Flora - which comes to Scottsdale every Christmas season. It's a small one tent circus started by the Walenda Family (yes, of the Flying Walendas fame) and Flora is an African Elephant and it's name sake. She was saved from certain death by her owner who shipped her to Florida from Europe several years ago.

Needless to say, loving elephants I was all for this adventure. They wanted me to paint her toenails with red tempra paint for a group of local television reporters to promote the circus and also for cultural promotion of Scottsdale!

They had Flora in an 18-wheeler (her temporary home) out on the reservation and her owner insisted that I come out and meet Flora prior to the day I would paint her nails...I took my son and daughter who were about 8 and 10 at the time. We met her trainer and owner and yes, FLORA. She was amazing and so patient. I took my camera and we stood next to her and her owner took our picture with her trainer - she kinda batted me a little in the back of the head with her big beautiful ear!

Well on the day of the opening of the circus I went to the location of the circus tent and there was Flora and they had me sit on the end of a very low, long bench. Then Flora put her foot on the other end. They gave me a very long paintbrush and some red tempra paint and she allowed me to paint her nails while the cameras were rolling! There was one point when I was just a little nervous. You see, if I were to raise my head up I was right under her massive chest and unbenownst to me, her owner was approaching from about 50 feet away and Flora let out a rumble...I asked her trainer in a really low voice "is she okay?! Is she okay?!"...LOL!!! He said she was just greeting her owner.

Well the news interviewed me and made a fuss and I got to promote our salon - They asked me what Flora's favorite nail color was and how long I had been doing her nails LOL!

I have a picture from the newspaper and a national Nail Tech magazine asked for my little story and published a picture of my kids and I when we met Flora.

...Flora has since retired to her home in Florida. She lives in a community of circus people...many of the Walendas and other circus folk live there.

But I bet Andrew's heart pounded faster than mine did for sure with his amazing adventure. Right out of a movie, for sure!!!

(Thanks for letting me ramble, guys.)



Carrie

"The opportunities to reach into the lives of others in an inspiring way arise in countless ways every single day..." Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

http://www.hellophoenix.com/art

Edited by - carolann r on 08/15/2006 23:49:02

[Andrew]

Carrie:

That was a good story. I liked it.

Andrew

[Andrew]

Buzz:

Yes we did stay for a pretty long time in New Delhi. Also for a week or so in Kashmir in a house boat on Dale Lake and also hinking in the mountains.

[Carolann R]

What amazing adventures you guys have had!! My dream since a small girl was to go to Africa. I wanted to see the Serengeti and Botswana and the drummers in Senegal. I wanted to see Victoria Falls and the woodcarvers in Zimbabwe, and ride on the Zambizi River...there's still time!


Carrie

"The opportunities to reach into the lives of others in an inspiring way arise in countless ways every single day..." Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

http://www.hellophoenix.com/art