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Thursday, February 16, 2017

How to Get Your Cool Little Project Funded

2/16/17 Guardian reports on efforts to bring back the woolly mammoth.  Part way through an interesting description of implanting a genetically modified embryo into an Asian elephant:
Church, a guest speaker at the meeting, said the mammoth project had two goals: securing an alternative future for the endangered Asian elephant and helping to combat global warming.
Woolly mammoths could help prevent tundra permafrost from melting and releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.
“They keep the tundra from thawing by punching through snow and allowing cold air to come in,” said Church. “In the summer they knock down trees and help the grass grow.”
A simulated ecosystem study has indicated that mammoths in Siberia could cause local temperatures to drop by up to 20C.
My wife pointed out that putting these into the wild not pnly interferes with Mother Earth's carefully created ecosystem, but likely will create problems for near competitors like musk oxen and caribou.

1 comment:

  1. There are trees in the tundra to be knocked down?
    Maybe they wandered away from the saiga. . .

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