Comments on: Woolly Mammoths: Two Subspecies Discovered

By: cryptidsrus

cryptidsrus — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:39:41 +0000

Great article, as usual, Loren.

I would also love to see “restored” Mammoths in their natural habitat.

By: dogu4

dogu4 — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:18:30 +0000

I’ve heard of that Mystery Man and hope to visit it, Pleistocene Park, someday if I get to make my grand tour., but in case I don’t I’m totally enthralled with the idea of re-creating the pleistocene ecosystem of the American Southwest, the Mojave and Sonoran deserts in particular, where today there is plenty of room (public land) and the current inventory is clearly impoverished of its potential due to that 12.9KYA Clovis extinction event. Some restoration conservation biologists are suggesting that small scale experiments in conservation begin using surrogates: asian elephants (THE number one keystone species, which even today are being kept in big fenced-in sanctuaries when zoos and circuses have to give them up), camels (almost made it back in the 1890s…should have used bactians)), zebras (we already have reintroduced 2 other equine species), cheetahs (pronghorns’ original natural control predator), african lions and giant tortoises (a surprisingly effective browsing/grazing animal only recently extirpated). There are entire communities of native plants and animals whose populations are merely waiting for the return of the critical components of the American Serengeti, and whether they’re surrogates or not they would also serve as reserve populations should their cohort source populations suffer a catastrophe in their future…something that become all the more of a concern as wild populations are shrinking everywhere and becoming more vulnerable to exactly those kinds of devastation and genetic bottlenecking.

As the firesign theater saying goes; forward into the past!

Cheers.

By: mystery_man

mystery_man — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:07:19 +0000

Dogu4- Yes indeed. Some of the projects planned for restoring these prehistoric habitats, like the Pleistocene Park in Siberia which proposes to create a full mammoth steppe ecosystem, are truly vast in scope. Seeing a herd of mammoths in their natural setting would be a breathtaking sight.

By: dogu4

dogu4 — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:19:02 +0000

It’s becoming more and more likely that the primary cause of the mammoth’s demise, as well as the other 23 genera of megafauna at that point in the planet’s history was the result of impact with a comet somewhere over the Laurentian ice field 12.9KYA. There is much evidence supporting this and fewer and fewer arguments to refute it.

The good news is that ecological restoration efforts and advances in DNA engineering are opening-up possibilities of one day seeing these incredible examples of genetic diversity once again in natural settings.

By: size 13

size 13 — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:40:19 +0000

Could it be that the only variations of the Mammoth existing is the modern elephant? India and Africa leave them alive yet in warmer climates causing them to lose hair and adapt to their environments. May not have been separate animals yet evolved to what we now know of? As far as Squatches go, get me the funding to catch one, alive or dead.

It won’t be cheap, but I’m sure I can do it. It’s the funding of Helicopter, cage, time and other resources. Those who look for these animals usually don’t have the funds to catch one alive. Oh, they are there, cause I have seen one, no doubt. Like others in the crypto field, we just ain’t got the cash. It’ll be a big production.

By: graybear

graybear — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:54:58 +0000

In any event its nice to know that we humans were not totally responsible for the mammoths extinction. Ma Nature got this one all by herself.

By: greenmartian2007

greenmartian2007 — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:56:38 +0000

Nice link to the mammoth findings.

As to Sasquatch, red pill presents a good question.

I think it may be also an argument against the existence of Sasquatch. Insufficient numbers (as per sightings, or sightings of footprints, or any type of documentary evidence, as compared as to what one would have for such rare creatures as javan rhinos, or snow leopards, or Yangtze porpoises) to have a viable population, over the exceptionally wide distribution area (west coast to east coast for Sasquatch) claimed for it.
I would like to have some comment on any super rare creature verified to exist as having a range that covers three time zones.

Doesn’t mean that Sasquatch doesn’t exist. It means that the evidence currently accumulated for proof of its existence isn’t sufficient.

How many verified, authentic photos do we have of the creature (not footprint casts–I mean of the actual creature)? How many verified, authentic films?

Let’s say we have a 100 years worth of eyewitness reports, for the sake of the argument. But we still don’t have any concrete proof. (Yes, I am aware that a number of researchers have stool samples in deep freeze that is alleged from Sasquatch. Has any of that been tested?)

Figure it out.

By: red_pill_junkie

red_pill_junkie — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:34:56 +0000

This low genetic divergence is an interesting subject for our favorite cryptid: Sasquatch.

How many specimens would here have to be to mantain a healthy population with enough genetic diversity to withstand enviromental changes?