Bringing back the Wooly Mammoth?
When we think of fighting Climate Change, we think of electric cars, solar panels, planting trees, and more efficient agricultural practices. I would bet that if you asked 200 random people on the street on different ways we should fight climate change, none of them would ever mention bringing back this hairy scary elephant like an apex lookalike of a behemoth. When people think of the Wooly Mammoth, they are more likely to think of the Ice Age movie from 2002 with all of those funny characters rather than anything remotely environmentally friendly. Yet bringing back the obviously extinct wooly mammoth could actually really assist us in our fight against the Climate Crisis.
For some context, the Wooly Mammoth was a land mammal that died off during a global warming period nearly 10,000 years ago after the Pleistocene Ice Age . According to an article written by Britannica, they stood at about “10-12 feet” and weighed at around”6-8 tons”.They resided in steppe tundra habitats but there is evidence they inhabited some forests in and around the modern midwestern United States. They have also been the most studied according to the article written by Britannica because they are so well preserved in terms of their carcasses. They were large hairy elephant look-alikes with big tusks on their face.
Well, what’s the big deal now one may ask? Well, the wooly mammoth is rumored to being brought back via genetic engineering. The exact steps to do so are admittedly out of my expertise zone nor can I find the exact steps but according to Rob Stein in an article he wrote for NPR titled”Scientists take a step closer to resurrecting the Wooly Mammoth”, “Scientists can now try to use cloning techniques and gene editing manipulate the cells in the hopes of someday creating elephants with key elements of mammoths.” Once again, this kind of science is not one within my personal expertise but from what materials I can obtain, there seems to be some progress on this mission to revive the Wooly Mammoth.
Climate Change is the main reason why reviving this extinct beast still exists. The main issue that these wooly mammoths would deal with is permafrost in the arctic. Permafrost is a layer underneath the ice that tends to contain a lot of CO2, a major greenhouse gas. Wooly Mammoths theoretically, would stomp down snow, helping secure a further layer to protect ice from melting. To go further, Paul Mann, writing for the Smithsonian, noted that mammoths” trampled mosses and shrubs, uprooting trees and disturbing the landscape. “ Mann goes into further explain this idea noting that”Because grass absorbs less sunlight than trees, this would cause the ground to absorb less heat and in turn keep the carbon pools and their greenhouse gasses on ice for longer.”
Of course in any what is essentially an ecological debate, there is an opposite side and a very reasonable one at that. There are concerns over geography, mainly questions asking”where do you put this animal?” There are rumors of putting it in Siberia but because that region is being governed by Russia who in 2024 is a foreign enemy to the United States, logistically, it would be a nightmare and a half for about a million reasons. Issues also arise around morality and whether it would be wiser to spend more money on preserving existing vulnerable nearly extinct species then to try and literally resurrect a species that left the earth over a thousand years ago. Questions also exist over how the mammoth would interact with fellow beasts like the polar bear and other species like the Walrus and Seals. These arguments and concerns are at the very least, credible if not downright valid.
Bringing back the wooly mammoth from extinction is certainly an intriguing idea at the very least if a bit ridiculous sounding. Whether it is scientifically and ecologically viable is up for debate. At least as it relates to Climate Change, bringing back the wooly mammoth seems like a great if a bit fantastical idea. There is no doubt in my mind that if we can make it ecologically viable, it will be a great weapon in our arsenal to fight Climate Change. But whether we can make it viable enough to be useful is the question.
Mann, Paul Mann. “Can Bringing Back Mammoths Help Stop Climate Change?” Smithsonian.Com, Smithsonian Institution, 14 May 2018, www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/can-bringing-back-mammoths-stop-climate-change-180969072/. Accessed 13 June 2024.
Rafferty, John. “Woolly Mammoth.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 15 June 2022, www.britannica.com/animal/woolly-mammoth. Accessed 13 June 2024.
Grove, Casey. “Could Alaska Once Again Be Home to Woolly Mammoths? This Reporter Had to Find Out.” Alaska Public Media, 29 May 2024, alaskapublic.org/2024/05/29/could-alaska-once-again-be-home-to-woolly-mammoths-this-reporter-had-to-find-out/. Accessed 13 June 2024.
