

Woolly mammoth DNA may lead to a resurrection of the ancient beast - ra
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jul/31/woolly-mammoth-dna-cloning

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beloch
The (likely) reason for the Mammoth's extinction and the best reason for
bringing them back is one and the same:

They're #$%^ing tasty.

Think about it. What would make a human being armed with sharp sticks and big
rocks go up against something the size of a large, monumentally pissed off
elephant? Our ancestors hunted these critters to death when there were cow-
ancestors, buffalo, and deer available. That says something!

So why is this a reason for bringing them back? About a day after the first
mammoth is brought back from extinction Chinese restaurants (the kind that
proudly serve up Snow Tiger, Sea Snake, and Dolphin) are going to be offering
tens of thousands of dollars per pound for mammoth meat. The first lab that
successfully clones a Mammoth will be able to fund itself for a decade on the
first mature animal they slaughter, even if they don't.

It sounds savage, I know, but this guarantees that the species will actually
come back in numbers and for good instead of being a temporary curiosity the
way cloned sheep were. (Dolly is very, very dead.)

Within a very short time mammoths will be farmed for meat. Zoos will, of
course, likely get the first specimens, but commercial farming for meat will
follow shortly after... unless they aren't actually very tasty. We hunted
giant camels to death too, and I don't see many people eating camel these
days.

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warcode
I think it depends on the reason why they were tasty.

If it was based on what they ate themselves, we might not have that available,
and end up with a sub-par product.

Then again if they are inherently delicious, with the recent advancements
around In Vitro meat, we might get fantastic mammoth meat forever.

