SCIENTISTS BRING US THE WOOLLY MOUSE, A MAJOR STEP TOWARDS THE RETURN OF THE WOOLLY MAMMOTH
I’ve been following the varied updates about bringing back the woolly mammoth from extinction with a lot of interest. Frankly, not everyone is happy about it. Criticisms have ranged from how dangerous it is to mess with genetics (which is fair, regardless of how ludicrous the Jurassic Park movies are) to how wasteful it is to spend resources on what otherwise is historically moot. But I find the idea pretty amazing to get ever closer to reality. And every story talking of the steps made keeps me interested. But I never thought one of those big steps would involve… a woolly mouse?
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THE WOOLLY MOUSE HAS A MAMMOTH’S COLOR, AND CAN HANDLE EXREME COLD WITH EASE
And yes, that is a picture of said woolly mouse above. It’s the product of the work from the specialists at Colossal Biosciences. And they say that this extra fuzzy rodent is a major step forward in their efforts to bring back the woolly mammoth. But besides the woolly aspect, the mouse also has other mammoth traits such as the the same coloring, as well as an innate ability to handle extremely cold temperatures. I, for one, have some trepidation of any of these mice escaping. Just imagine active mice in the dead of hard winter, scaring you in your kitchen with your cat taking a vacation.
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IF THE WOOLLY MOUSE IS A MAJOR STEP, WE COULD SEE THE RETURN OF THE DODO BIRD, TOO
But the genetic pioneers at Colossal Biosciences have quite the I-Want-To-Do list, and a woolly mouse on the way to a woolly mammoth will potentially also lead into their working on the return of the dodo. But with the detractors criticizing their work, they also make sure to pitch that returning these species into the living fold will also help the environment. For example, the woolly mammoth back in the wild would result in their tamping down the permafrost, slowing how fast it is thawing and emitting methane into the air. It seems more likely now that we will see some success, and soon. Just so long as that woolly mouse never makes its way into the wild.
