British Expat Forum

Here's a BBC article about cloning mammoths.

At the end of the article, they explain that this work may help to save endangered species. It sounds too weird to me.

Maybe I've seen too many scary films but this sounds a bit too much like Jurassic Park for my liking.

What do you think of the idea?

I think it's an exciting and innovative thing, it can help us with modern medicine, keep species on the verge of extinction alive and even bring back some of the more exotic and useful creatures of the past. Just so long as they never start to clone politicians I'm for it.

It sounds as if it could be a good thing if done with care.

That said, I can't help thinking about the countless times non-native species have been imported into various habitats to control "pests", to fulfil various human needs or simply because colonisers thought they would brighten the place up a bit - and then run riot. Australia's suffering from countless examples: rabbits, camels, cane toads, brambles... and of course harlequin ladybirds are giving European ladybird species a tough time just now.

Good points, Dave. Luckily, the risk of a mating a pair of mammoths escaping into the wild is rather low. However, the chances of creating a not-quite-mammoth seem very high indeed...