By Abi Parameswaran

Why do scientists want to revive the Woolly Mammoth? This is not a commonly asked question in people’s day to day lives since many do not have the time to question these new found scientific experiments. However, it is important to be informed on all the different aspects of our society including these innovative projects conducted by scientists.

There are many different standpoints on the idea of reviving the Woolly Mammoth as this animal walked the earth tens of thousands of years ago. But, the massive mammal should not be brought back from the dead as futuristic as it may sound.

These enormous creatures with furry appearances lived in cold climates and were closely related to the Asian elephant. In the last ice age, this herbivorous animal was in abundance. The primary cause of their extinction was increasing global temperature as they had evolved to live in cold climates and thus their habitats became uninhabitable.

A secondary causation of extinction is that with the end of the ice age humans hunted these massive mammoths for their tusks, fur, and meat. Although the changing climate was an issue, humans ultimately closed the chapter of this diverse species causing it to go extinct. This leads to the reasons as to why this species should not be attempted to be brought back from the dead through the process of cloning. Humans fall under secondary causes for this mammal’s extinction. What are the chances that humans will not again exploit these mammals yet again? People do not always learn from their mistakes as seen prevalent in the continuous extinctions and endangerment of over one hundred crucial species yearly.

Also, the concern around climate change has skyrocketed since the industrial revolution. This means that the habitat of the Woolly Mammoth is almost non-existent or severely altered. This just goes to show that the species would not have a sustainable environment even if it were revived. This is crueller to these animals than going extinct as not only are they being brought back from the dead but they will never be able to live a natural life again.

Additionally, as a society, there are many improvements that must take place to mitigate climate change, habitat loss, over-population and extinction of animals. Instead of dwelling on past mistakes, efforts should be taken to correct current situations, and solutions need to be found for the future generations.

Conducting projects like this seem useless in the aspect of controlling population-related issues. Organisms on this planet are running out of resources to depend on for their needs. Adding an extinct species back into the ecosystem will only worsen current situations. Does this mean cloning is useless? Absolutely not! The current use and efforts of this technology are not beneficial to civilization. Instead, this technology should be used to save endangered species that cannot reproduce in a manner to preserve itself. Scientists need to be more conscious of what they invest billions of dollars into researching and reviving. The mammoth does not seem to be an appropriate investment, though, instead, there needs to be more research into investing money into reviving or preserving species that are relevant to
today’s modern society!

Citations:
[1] http://www.itsastrangeworld.com/scientists-aim-resurrect-wooly-mammoth/