National Geographic’s Mammoth Cloning Fantasy
One of my first BT blog posts was a tongue-in-cheek commentary on how Hwang Woo Suk’s attempt to resurrect mammoths via cloning might intersect with the FDA’s approval of cloned meat in a way that could lead to Flintstone-like bronto burgers at your local McDonald’s.
Well, it looks like National Geographic is taking this idea a bit more seriously. The National Geographic Channel is heavily promoting its show “Waking the Baby Mammoth,” which recounts the 2007 excavation of Lyuba, described as “the most perfectly preserved wooly mammoth ever discovered.” This discovery certainly raises a host of interesting scientific questions, such as what can the preserved corpse tell us about the period on Earth known as the Ice Age?
But what’s interesting is how quickly National Geographic turns this intriguing discovery into a conversation about using biotechnology to clone the 40,000 year old Lyuba. Not only is the idea “Cloning a Mammoth” prominently displayed on the front page of the show’s website, but it is hyperlinked to a separate web page – entitled “Recipe for Resurrection” – on how scientists might be able to do this. And all of this happens with a less than robust discussion of the technical and ethical problems that stem from cloning extinct animals.
Previously on Biopolitical Times