Could scientists clone an American mastodon with genetic material that's been discovered? If so, should they?

Question

I was thinking that maybe there would be a way to insert/combine the mastodon's DNA with an elephant's or something (since we can't manufacture a mastodon embryo, right?). I'm assuming the mastodons were relatives of the elephant.

Could we also do this to "bring back" other relatively recently extict animals like the Dodo or Tasmanian Tiger?

I meant just an individual "sample" of the species to be studied in a controlled environment. I thought that perhaps since the Mastodon became extinct only 11000 years ago or so, maybe the DNA wouldn't be as fragmented. I thought they had found a nearly complete Mastodon frozen at one time, which I thought perhaps would yield sufficient DNA samples.

Same thing goes for the Dodo and Tasmanian Tiger. If nothing else, just to be kept in a controlled environment for study.

Answer 1

Could they clone a mastodon? I believe the answer is "yes." We have the ability to separate the DNA and to replicate parts of it for DNA evidence. That leads me to believe we could actually replicate the mastodon DNA and inject it into a suitable egg cell for it to develop.

Should a mastodon be cloned? That is difficult to answer. Perhaps some species become extinct for a good reason. Who knows what issues may arise if we were to bring back an animal that has been extinct for thousands of years? We may bring some disease-bearing organisms with that animal. We may cause a competition for food in the environment with animals that have taken over that niche since the mastodon died out.

If we were to clone extinct animals I think it would be best to limit it to those animals which have been extinct a shorter period of time - perhaps the "dodo bird" or another species that has been eradicated due to the ignorance of humans. At least that way we would know what habitat it requires and whether it would compete with other animals that are here today.

Answer 2

Mastodon Cloning

Answer 3

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RE:
Could scientists clone an American mastodon with genetic material that's been discovered? If so, should they?
I was thinking that maybe there would be a way to insert/combine the mastodon's DNA with an elephant's or something (since we can't manufacture a mastodon embryo, right?). I'm assuming the mastodons were relatives of the elephant.

Could we also do this to "bring...

Answer 4

In theory they could. I think they're actually in the preliminary process of doing just that. I also heard just the other day that they're looking into cloning the tasmanian tiger, but I hadn't heard anything about the dodo yet.

Should they? I don't know, the animals did go extinct so there's probably a good reason why they aren't around anymore. However, whether they should or not, they probably will try to clone them anyways.

Answer 5

I dont think Ive ever said a theist is unintelligent just for believing in God or any higher power. In my view however certain questions such as "Atheists do you realise you will have your face ripped off by rabid monkies in hell?" are unintelligent because these people are also assuming that they know what happens after we die with no proof. If a theist asks a well thought out question then I give them my opinion and am very respectful of them. If however they ask a stupid question I will tell them so. Maybe you shouldnt stereotype all atheists just because you've seen some condescending answers. If I was to do the same thing Id say "All Theists are insane" because some of them ask insane questions, in reality plenty of theists are well educated people too.

Answer 6

I don't have an answer. I would like for physandchemteach to explain how cloning a mastadon will also clone some terrible disease. I don't understand. If it died of some disease it would not be reproduced in the cloning process unless it was a genetic disease in which case it undoubtly would not affect humans. If it died of something like rabies then cloning a mammoth would not create a strain of the rabies it died from,since they are seperate entities. So much for your baseless fear.

Answer 7

Yea if there was a whole DNA of a mastodon then its possible to clone it. But what you would get wouldnt be a true Mastodon, instead it would be a hybrid with what ever surrogate animal was used.

Answer 8

With todays technology the answer is NO. The major problem is not the ability to transfer genetic material into, as you suggested, eliphant cell, but that the mastodon DNA is probably fragmented. It is would be very difficult to find and isolate cell nuclear material that would have intact genomic DNA. Certainly it is possible to sequence these fragments and get idea of the evolutionary relationship of masterdons to eliphants, but intact DNA for cloning very difficult (or impossible).

With current technology we cannot "stitch" or repair the fragmented DNA together and form a viable nucleus to transfer. Who know what though is possible in the future with technology advances