"What does this have to do with us? Could it be that the mammoth that the boss wants to resurrect is also part of this plan?" Huangshan asked.
"That's not true, because mammoths are not among the top ten extinct animals that are most likely to be resurrected." Han Kongque said.
"Why? How come no one wants to capture such a good thing? If it is really resurrected, I will definitely raise a large group of them, and I will have the best ivory to sell in the future." The golden demon said in a fuss.
"Why are there no mammoths? Not to mention tigers, there are even donkeys, so why are there no mammoths?" Mu Ling was not a professional after all, so she also felt strange.
Han Kongque said with a wry smile: "Actually, this is a matter of hype."
Scientists claim to have deciphered the genomes of some extinct animals, and the one that has done the most perfect job is the mammoth!
The genes of the frozen mammoth remains are intact and almost completely deciphered, so the mammoth will not attract anyone's attention.
In addition to mammoths, scientists recently announced that they had "resurrected" a genome from a Tasmanian tiger, inserted the gene into a mouse, and tested its effect.
But there is still a long way between imagination and success. The so-called "top ten" are just an auspicious integer. Some species have been extinct for too long and it is difficult to retain useful genes, so even modern science has no way to save them.
The top ten extinct animals that are most likely to be resurrected are ranked according to their popularity in people's minds. For example, Neanderthals are ranked first. From a moral and ethical point of view, Neanderthals are the least likely and most likely to be resurrected.
That's the mammoth.
Deliberately not mentioning the most likely one, but putting the most sensational "ancients" will inevitably attract more attention. Just like many people who know about this plan now, they have been attracted. This is the work of hype.
"No wonder not so many people pay attention to the mammoth. It turns out that this one is not famous and is not so difficult to revive." Huang Shan said thoughtfully.
Han Peacock laughed when he heard this: "If this were true, wouldn't the mammoths have been resurrected long ago? So, don't think that the mammoths are easy to resurrect. No matter how easy it is, there are still technical difficulties, otherwise it would have been long ago
After being resurrected, why wait until now?"
"Then what was the boss thinking just now? After all, we have obtained a lot of mammoth tissue. Even if we can't get the small mammoth fossil now, it shouldn't be too affected, right?" Wood Spirit asked.
"Isn't it just that I was defrauded out of a million dollars? The loss is not big!" Huang Shan said.
Han Kongque said: "I'm just a little disappointed. After all, a one-month-old small mammoth is still very rare. However, I have not been deceived. Do you know what I bought this time?"
"Is it related to the resurrected top ten extinct animals?" Mu Ling's eyes lit up. Han Peacock mentioned this plan just now, so it means that the animal carcass Han Peacock bought should be one of the top ten extinct animals.
The "production" of any living thing is inseparable from genes. The preservation of genes requires great care. If they are exposed to sunlight or bacteria, they will be contaminated and the genetic information will be "invalid."
But if a certain animal froze to death in Siberia or fell into a dark, dry cave, the chances of its genes being successfully preserved would be much greater, and it might be possible to "resurrect" it with the help of modern technology.
The British magazine "New Scientist" listed 10 ancient animals that are most likely to be resurrected. Geneticists studied their DNA preservation and surrogate suitability to see how likely they are to be "resurrected."
Among the top ten resurrected extinct animals, the most hostile ones are Neanderthals. This is a human race that lived in Europe and West Asia during the Ice Age (from about 120,000 years ago to 30,000 years ago). They were short, stocky, and strong.
large.
The name "Neanderthal" comes from the first discovery of human remains in the Neander Gorge cave near Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1856.
More than 30,000 years ago, as glaciers spread across the European continent, Neanderthals became extinct.
A draft of the Neanderthal genome is expected to be released soon, but German scientists say it will take another two years to truly resurrect this species.
Due to similar DNA results, the most ideal "surrogate mother" for Neanderthals is our modern humans.
Ranked second is the saber-toothed tiger. The saber-toothed tiger lived in the Pleistocene (geological era) 1 million years ago. Its body shape is similar to that of modern tigers, but its upper canine teeth are much larger than those of modern tigers, even larger than the tusks of wild boars.
However, because saber-toothed tigers were not good at running fast, they could not compete with those flexible carnivores. With fewer and fewer prey, they eventually went extinct.
In urban Los Angeles, USA, the tar pits of La Brea Farm are famous for the excavation of saber-toothed tiger fossils.
The saber-toothed tiger samples found here are well preserved, but the asphalt makes it very difficult to extract DNA, and no complete DNA has yet been extracted.
Once the complete DNA is extracted, the African lion will become an ideal "surrogate mother" for the saber-toothed tiger.
When Han Peacock discovered dinosaur fossils in the United States, he also bought a saber-toothed tiger fossil to display in his museum. If it weren't for the fact that the asphalt pits were not easy to dig, Han Peacock would have thought about going there for a walk.
, to see if he could find more saber-toothed tiger fossils. In the end, Han Peacock went to look for emeralds, and did not look for saber-toothed tigers, but this was also one of the treasure hunting plans he was thinking about.
The third thing that humans want to capture is that 2 million years ago, there lived the "American short-faced bear" in the northern part of the North American continent. This was a terrifying carnivore.
Their main prey is cattle and American bison, so they are also called "cattle-eating bears".
The polar bear, currently the largest carnivore in the world, pales in comparison to the huge short-faced bear. When standing, the short-faced bear is 1/3 taller than the polar bear and weighs 1 ton.
In addition to the large mouth full of sharp teeth, the short-faced bear's most striking feature is its long limbs.
When they usually walk, their backs are about 1.5 meters from the ground, but when they stand upright, it is more than 3.4 meters.
Quaternary glaciers had a huge impact on North America. A large number of large herbivores died out, and the number of short-faced bears subsequently decreased.
Unfortunately, during this period, other omnivorous bears "invaded" the North American continent and became more advantageous in terms of food adaptation.
Short-faced bears not only face challenges from nature, but also face fierce competition, and it is difficult to find mating partners. These three factors are intertwined and promote the demise of short-faced bears.
There are currently short-faced bear samples preserved in the frozen soil, but it is difficult to find a "surrogate mother" for the short-faced bear. The only South American spectacled bear that is genetically similar to the short-faced bear is only 1/10 of the short-faced bear in size.
It is difficult to take on the job of "surrogate mother".
The fourth type is the Tasmanian tiger mentioned just now. It turns out that Korean peacocks have obtained Tasmanian lobsters, so they are no strangers to Tasmanian tigers.
On the Australian island of Tasmania, there once lived a cunning but very "shy" animal, the Tasmanian tiger.
In fact, the Tasmanian tiger cannot be completely called a "tiger". It has a wolf-like head and a dog-like body. It is the largest carnivorous marsupial in modern times. It is also called the Tasmanian tiger.
Wolf.
The last Tasmanian tiger died in 1936, and its tissues are well protected.
It is not difficult to resurrect the Tasmanian tiger. The Tasmanian devil, known as the "Tasmanian Devil", will become a good "surrogate mother". The pregnancy period only takes a few weeks. The newborn Tasmanian tiger
Tigers can be fed with milk.
The fifth type is glyptodont, which is a herbivorous mammal discovered from fossils. It lived in South America during the Pliocene and Pleistocene periods (about 25 million years ago to 10,000 years ago). Its habitat is
The Pampas in what is now Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil survived until the late Pleistocene.
Glyptodon can be called the "iron-armored warrior" among mammals. An adult glyptodon is about 4 meters long, with its back reaching 2.5 meters from the ground, making it as big as a Beetle.
The hard "armor" on their bodies is more than two meters in diameter and consists of more than 1,000 1-inch-thick bone plates.
Glyptodon also had a tubular tail over 1 meter long, protected by a ring of bones.
However, there are currently no glyptodont samples preserved in the frozen soil, and we can only hope to find well-preserved samples in dark, dry caves.
Because of its size, it is difficult for glyptodonts to find a "surrogate mother".
The sixth species is the dodo, a flightless bird found only in the African island nation of Mauritius.
Its fat body always makes it stagger, and its big mouth makes it look a bit ugly.
Fortunately, there are no natural enemies for them on the island. They build nests in the woods, hatch eggs, and reproduce their offspring comfortably.
The Europeans who settled on the island of Mauritius and the pigs they raised soon discovered that this bird was delicious, so many dodos were eaten.
As of 1681, no one had ever found a living dodo on that island.
A small number of dodos were brought to Britain in the 17th century, but no one has been seen alive for more than 200 years.
A geneticist from the University of Cambridge in the UK was allowed to dissect the best-preserved dodo specimen in the world in 2002, which was just one foot of the dodo.
So far, no more dodo specimens have been found.
But geneticists believe that more dodo samples will be found in the future, and the best "surrogate mother" for dodos is pigeons.
The seventh species is the giant ground sloth. Tens of thousands of years ago, America was a paradise for giant ground sloths. They are more eye-catching than their tree-dwelling cousins, the sloths. They are nearly 6 meters long and may weigh up to 4 tons (equivalent to a
the weight of an African elephant).
These behemoths often walked upright on their hind legs, which put tremendous pressure on their bones.
In dry caves in North America, scientists found its mummified skin and feces, allowing them to accurately reconstruct its appearance and behavior.
Some well-preserved specimens still have hair, so resurrecting them is possible.
However, the gigantic size of the giant ground sloth makes finding a "surrogate mother" an insurmountable task. The sloth that is genetically closest to the giant ground sloth is much smaller than it. (To be continued.)