Welcome to Jurassic Park!

[Outsider]

"In an extraordinary achievement of advanced multiplexed genome engineering, Colossal Biosciences announces the birth of the Colossal Woolly Mouse—mice engineered to express multiple key mammoth-like traits that provide adaptations to life in cold climates. By successfully modifying seven genes simultaneously, Colossal's team created mice with dramatically altered coat color, texture, and thickness reminiscent of the woolly mammoth’s core phenotypes. This achievement demonstrates the feasibility of expressing traits using information learned from the computational analysis of 59 woolly, Columbian, and steppe mammoth genomes ranging from 3,500 to over 1,200,000 years old confirming these pathways as the crucial targets for mammoth de-extinction.?
Business Wire
I'm booking trips to Jurassic Park. Any tourists?

 

[FayetheAspie]

And why would we want a mouse /wooly mammoth hybrid?

 

[Outdated]

I'm more interested in the de-extinction of the Thylacine. Something that will have a positive effect on our ecosystems.

Thylacine Integrated Genomic Restoration Research Lab | TIGRR LAB

 

[Judge]

"Objects in mirror are closer than they appear".

 

[Tuffsy]

"Objects in mirror are closer than they appear".

Yes, I already know that I'm a dinosaur!!!

 

[Judge]

Yes, I already know that I'm a dinosaur!!!

Take a number. I guess that meteor missed some of us.

 

[Shamar]

"In an extraordinary achievement of advanced multiplexed genome engineering, Colossal Biosciences announces the birth of the Colossal Woolly Mouse—mice engineered to express multiple key mammoth-like traits that provide adaptations to life in cold climates. By successfully modifying seven genes simultaneously, Colossal's team created mice with dramatically altered coat color, texture, and thickness reminiscent of the woolly mammoth’s core phenotypes. This achievement demonstrates the feasibility of expressing traits using information learned from the computational analysis of 59 woolly, Columbian, and steppe mammoth genomes ranging from 3,500 to over 1,200,000 years old confirming these pathways as the crucial targets for mammoth de-extinction.?
Business Wire
I'm booking trips to Jurassic Park. Any tourists?

They just announce they have live dire wolves. It is now a race between de extincting the woolly mammoth or the thylacine, maybe the passenger pigeon in third place.

 

[Marianna]

I’d say the Thylacine has the most potential for real-world impact. Imagine how it could help ecosystems, especially in Australia. Woolly mammoths are cool, but bringing back a lost predator could really shake things up in terms of conservation.

 

[Outdated]

I’d say the Thylacine has the most potential for real-world impact. Imagine how it could help ecosystems, especially in Australia.

It would be wonderful to have something that kills cats, they're about the right size to be legitimate prey.

 

[FayetheAspie]

It would be wonderful to have something that kills cats, they're about the right size to be legitimate prey.

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[Outdated]

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They're a serious environmental issue here. Some of us are now pushing to have cat ownership completely banned, there's no point trying to eradicate them from the wild while irresponsible pet owners keep reintroducing them.

Feral cats in Australia

 

[Shamar]

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I agree with Outdated. One night while driving down the highway, my Land Cruiser was attacked by a feral cat. It was near 3 feet (or a just under a meter for those who use real measurements) long, not including the tail. This is not an unusual size. I have seen several skins on display this size. Like most imported animals that got loose there, they are destroying the environment, or, according to some, creating an entirely new environment. I don't think anyone there would complain if they limited their diet to rabbits....

The problem is not limited to animals. Someone once imported prickly pear cactus. It got loose and nearly overran the country. There was a major eradication campaign that had it almost under control last time I was there.

 

[FayetheAspie]

Three feet long don't sound like a regular house cat.

 

[Outdated]

Three feet long don't sound like a regular house cat.

Australia's a perfect environment for cats, no frozen winters and wildlife that has evolved with no such predators in their midst and therefore have evolved with no form of defence against them.

National parks in my area are closing overnight at the moment while Parks and Wildlife do a cull of feral animals. 90% of the animals they shoot will be cats, and half of those will be people's domestic pets. Cats can roam incredible distances.

 

[Outsider]

I agree with Outdated. One night while driving down the highway, my Land Cruiser was attacked by a feral cat. It was near 3 feet (or a just under a meter for those who use real measurements) long, not including the tail. This is not an unusual size. I have seen several skins on display this size. Like most imported animals that got loose there, they are destroying the environment, or, according to some, creating an entirely new environment. I don't think anyone there would complain if they limited their diet to rabbits....

The problem is not limited to animals. Someone once imported prickly pear cactus. It got loose and nearly overran the country. There was a major eradication campaign that had it almost under control last time I was there.

What is the feral cat? We don't have anything similar to it in US although we have mountain lions, which are classified as wild cats, although they look anything but a cat.

 

[Shamar]

What is the feral cat? We don't have anything similar to it in US although we have mountain lions, which are classified as wild cats, although they look anything but a cat.

Feral cats are best described as House Cats Gone Wild (Spring Break?). The larger and fiercer, the better chance for survival in that environment, although size is a bit limited due to water availability. The optimum seems to be nearly twice the size of the usual house cat. They put the exceptionally large ones on display, although I did see one VERY large one in the wild once.

Here in the US, cats know they have a pretty good gig going (shelter, regular food, affection when they decide), so they have no pressure to go truly feral. I did once read a study in which the population density of "unowned" cats seemed to correlate with the population density of college age women.

 

[Outdated]

What is the feral cat?

Feral refers to domestic animals that have turned wild. Some will have been dumped by irresponsible owners and others will simply find living in the bush much more fun and entertaining than getting locked up in a human's house all the time. In Australia we only get very mild winters, many Australians have never seen snow except on TV. Cats don't need as protective a shelter as they do in colder countries.

Where your average house cat weighs between 4 and 6 Kg, cats that have bred in the wild can weigh up to 15 Kg. They still have all the same colourations as your average house cats, you get tabbies and gingers and all sorts of colours, but they are most certainly no longer domestic.

 

[Lemon Zing]

Quack, quack, quack. You didn't say the magic word.

Quack, quack, quack. Quack, quack, quack!

PLEASE! I hate this goddamn quacker crap.

 

[Outsider]

Feral refers to domestic animals that have turned wild. Some will have been dumped by irresponsible owners and others will simply find living in the bush much more fun and entertaining than getting locked up in a human's house all the time. In Australia we only get very mild winters, many Australians have never seen snow except on TV. Cats don't need as protective a shelter as they do in colder countries.

Where your average house cat weighs between 4 and 6 Kg, cats that have bred in the wild can weigh up to 15 Kg. They still have all the same colourations as your average house cats, you get tabbies and gingers and all sorts of colours, but they are most certainly no longer domestic.

It seems, wild cats have a healthier lifestyle than their domestic cousins. Natural foods and plenty of movement make them grow big and strong. Cat food for domestic cats sucks, although I'm not talking from personal experience, this is just an educated guess.

 

[Outdated]

Cat food for domestic cats sucks, although I'm not talking from personal experience, this is just an educated guess.

A lot of humans aren't terribly bright and tend to try and anthropomorphise their pets. There was a case a couple of years back where a woman was charged and convicted of animal cruelty and banned from ever owning an animal again after she tried to force her cat on to a vegan diet.

When I was growing up we didn't feed our pets canned food very often, they mostly ate whatever we were also eating. And on the odd occasion when we did try to feed them canned food they'd turn their noses up at it, dog and cats.

Open any can of pet food and smell it. Based on smell alone would you eat it? I certainly wouldn't.