Will we be able to see these magnificent creatures in the flesh? Photo by Joseph Martinez [cc-by-nd 2.0]If you read our article from 2011, you may have been wondering when that woolly mammoth clone would be available? It may be closer than you think.
A new laboratory in the icy wastelands of Siberia is devoted to cloning extinct animals, including the woolly mammoth. Located in Yakutia, the facility may have the largest collection of remains from prehistoric animals—everything from prehistoric dogs and horses to the enormous precursor to the elephant that once roamed the earth.
An article in Russian magazine, Ogonek (see original or English translation), reports that the lab is very focused on cloning mammoths as their first project in collaboration with the Sooam Biotech company, which has already had success in dog cloning. They’ll never do it, though. Right?
This article from the Telegraph tells how Harvard University researchers have already copied 14 woolly mammoth genes into the genome of an Asian elephant. While their work has not yet been published, and the genes have only lived in a lab at this point, it’s an important step toward a living, breathing mammoth.
While it would be fantastic to be able to see these prehistoric creatures in the flesh, there is always the question of whether this is a good idea. Should creatures whose time on the planet has come and gone be allowed to rest in peace? In the mean time, we’ll keep an eye on developments.
There you have it. Based on what we currently understand about cloning, we don’t have any way to regenerate a dinosaur. We’re just going to have to rely on time travel. Of course, there are other historic creatures that are within the reasonable DNA half-life, including Neanderthal Man. In this interview with Spiegel from several years ago, scientist, George Church, discusses the plausibility of cloning a Neanderthal Man and other topics that may shock or delight you. Church denied that he was seeking an “Adventurous Woman,” as some reported, to be a surrogate for a baby Neanderthal. We don’t know if he didn’t get a volunteer or if there were too many. (Can you just imagine the email?)
Alvin, a bearded dragon, is our official lucky lizard, live and on display
Are these places where science dare not go? If someone discovers a way around the half-life issue or wants to explore brining back a woolly mammoth or Neanderthal should we be worried or buy tickets? As host to the one and only Iceman, we would love to have a pet dinosaur. I guess we’ll have to be content to enjoy our lucky lizard, Alvin, on display in the museum.
Abominable Snowmen book and my mummified “Yeti” finger.
I was tipped off to this news several months ago (and again a few days ago) that Oxford University geneticist Dr. Bryan Sykes would be announcing some “unexpected results” concerning his DNA study of supposed Yeti hair samples. Well, now those results are being officially announced to the world, and I would think it’s safe to say they are not what anybody had expected, but no less amazing in my opinion.
For centuries, tales of the Yeti, an elusive but terrifying creature said to roam the inhospitable Himalayan Mountains, have enthralled curious minds.
Now, research by a leading UK geneticist may have unlocked the truth about the Yeti, or Abominable Snowman, after hair samples from two mystery animals proved to be a genetic match to an ancient polar bear.
The findings, to be explained in “Bigfoot Files,” a documentary series on Britain’s Channel 4 TV network, are the work of Bryan Sykes, a professor of human genetics at Oxford University.
He put out a worldwide call last year for people to submit hair or other tissue from “cryptids,” or previously undescribed species, and collected more than 30 samples for analysis.
Sykes’ research focused on two samples in particular, both from the Himalayas but found about 800 miles apart, one in the Ladakh region and the other in Bhutan.
To his surprise, testing found a 100% match with a polar bear jawbone from Svalbard, the northernmost part of Norway, that dates back between 40,000 and 120,000 years, according to a news release from Channel 4.
First of all, the sheer fact that, yes, the Yeti is indeed a real living “prehistoric” animal and not just the stuff of legends anymore, is enough to get excited about. So yes, I am elated to hear this news coming from an extremely reputable source like Dr. Sykes and Oxford University. If anything, it shows that there’s sometimes much more than just a grain of truth to sightings and descriptions of legendary cryptids, that they are not just some imaginary creation made up by the locals.
Second, this confirms my own suspicions about the possible identity of the Yeti, in that it may be something altogether different from Sasquatch. For years I had erroneously made the same assumption that most people do, that is, lumping the Yeti in with Bigfoot and Almas, in that I had always believed they were all some sort of related bipedal primate. That is, until I began collecting Bigfoot prints for the Museum of the Weird.
When I first received a cast made from the original Tom Slick Yeti print retrieved on one of his Nepal expeditions, I was stunned. Now I don’t proclaim to be a scientist nor am I an expert in animal tracks, but even to my layman’s eyes these did not look anything like the Bigfoot casts I had already amassed! In fact, when I first saw the Tom Slick cast, my first thought was, “this is fake.” It just didn’t look like what I thought a Yeti print should look like (which in my mind, would be like a Bigfoot print). Once I realized that, yes, what I had was indeed a copy of the actual Tom Slick Yeti print and not a phony, my second thought was, “this could be a bear.” It was an an eye-opening revelation.
Here for your consideration is a side-by-side comparison of the Tom Slick Yeti print and a Bigfoot print (one of the “Grays Harbor” casts), both on display in the Museum of the Weird.
The Bigfoot print is nearly twice the length of the Yeti print, and the Yeti print has only four visible toes.
Look at the difference in size and shape, and let us know what your thoughts are.
This morning a group of Sasquatch researchers have announced their findings after a five year study into the phenomenon of Bigfoot.
New photos and videos filled with never before seen images were released Tuesday by a group known as the Sasquatch Genome Project. They were in Dallas Tuesday to unveil its findings.
Dr. Melba Ketchum, a genetics scientist led the project. “We want people to understand this is a serious study,” said Ketchum.
The five-year study costs more than $500,000. It was funded by businessman Adrian Erickson.
Erikson says he has had numerous encounters with Sasquatch creatures–and says he has the images and science to back their existence. But he says he also understands the stigma and disbelief that comes with BigFoot.
“People have chosen not to believe it. They can’t find it in their minds to think these things exist.”
So the group of researchers and scientists set out to track what they call the furry people.
The group says it followed a mother and daughter in Kentucky collecting thermal imagery, daytime and nighttime video, along with, photos of massive hand and footprints.
The group says there are thousands of these creatures in the United States including right here in North Texas.
But the strongest evidence the group says its has is DNA evidence. They say it is like nothing that has been seen before in mammals or humans.
The theory of a Neanderthal-human hybrid may now be considered scientific fact after evidence that was presented in northern Italy earlier this week revealed a distinctive crossover of genetic traits between the two species. A paper published on PLoS ONE discusses aspects of the discovered skeletal remains, including fragments from a jawbone and cranium, which point to the gradual crossbreeding of the Homo neanderthalensis with the modern Homo sapiens, or humans.
Further analysis is needed to cement the theory, but if proven correct, the 30,000 to 40,000 year-old remains will be of the very first hybrid in existence. Previously, genetic research had revealed that humans with DNA of European and Asian descent were between one and four percent Neanderthal. However, the evidence up until now was not conclusive and based solely on “ambiguous fossils.” The Neanderthal genetic line declined and eventually vanished around 30,000 years ago through a mix of interbreeding and human conquest.
The fossilized jawbone and cranial fragments was discovered in 1957 in Riparo Mezzena in the Monti Lessini mountains of northern Italy. Researchers analyzed the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which revealed the Neanderthal lineage. However, the shape of the bone possessed characteristics more closely in line with traits of the modern human. Since mitochondrial DNA is passed down from mother to child, researchers have concluded that the remains are from a “female Neanderthal who mated with male Homo sapiens.”
“From the morphology of the lower jaw, the face of the Mezzena individual would have looked somehow intermediate between classic Neanderthals, who had a rather receding lower jaw (no chin), and the modern humans, who present a projecting lower jaw with a strongly developed chin,” said study co-author Silvana Condemi, an anthropologist at the University of Ai-Marseille, to Discovery News.
Homo sapiens migrated into the Riparo Mezzena region approximately 41,000 years ago where the Neanderthal already possessed an established culture. The two species coexisted for a lengthy duration before the modern human finally dominated the territory and phased out the Neanderthal lineage. Some experts within the scientific community still doubt the hybrid theory pointing to evidence from Spain, which suggests the Neanderthal species was actually extinct thousands of years before the arrival of the modern Homo sapiens. Genetic similarities, they say, are the result of common ancient ancestors.
One hundred eleven samples of blood, tissue, hair, and other types of specimens were studied, characterized and hypothesized to be obtained from elusive hominins in North America commonly referred to as Sasquatch. DNA was extracted and purified from a subset of these samples that survived rigorous screening for wildlife species identification. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequencing, specific genetic loci sequencing, forensic short tandem repeat (STR) testing, whole genome single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) bead array analysis, and next generation whole genome sequencing were conducted on purported Sasquatch DNA samples gathered from various locations in North America. Additionally, histopathologic and electron microscopic examination were performed on a large tissue sample. vel non-human DNA.
In addition to the publication of Dr. Ketchum’S paper, DeNovo has released this brief but tantalizing video clip from the Erickson Project’s upcoming Bigfoot documentary that appears to show a sleeping Sasquatch named Matilda.
Not surprisingly, it appears some others are jumping on the “DNA Proves Sasquatch is Real” bandwagon. From Denver CBS 4 comes this report about a group of Colorado researchers who are making their own claims that they have proof of Sasquatch DNA. According to researcher Dave Paulides, “This DNA is like nothing else in the world.”
Paulides says his research group has collected hundreds of samples of DNA evidence. He focused his search in Northern California’s redwoods. He says strands of hair are from a Sasquatch, genetically tested to reveal a previously unknown species.
“This isn’t an animal. This is a subspecies of a human, and we believe they travel in groups,” Paulides said.
What does all of this mean? Are we any closer to the scientific community accepting the reality of the existence of Bigfoot?
This incredible news was released today by Dr. Melba Ketchum, the head of the Bigfoot DNA study:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
‘BIGFOOT’ DNA SEQUENCED IN UPCOMING GENETICS STUDY
Five-Year Genome Study Yields Evidence of Homo sapiens/Unknown Hominin Hybrid Species in North America
Contact: Robin Lynne, media@dnadiagnostics.com, 231.622.5362
DALLAS, Nov. 24–A team of scientists can verify that their 5-year long DNA study, currently under peer-review, confirms the existence of a novel hominin hybrid species, commonly called “Bigfoot” or “Sasquatch,” living in North America. Researchers’ extensive DNA sequencing suggests that the legendary Sasquatch is a human relative that arose approximately 15,000 years ago as a hybrid cross of modern Homo sapiens with an unknown primate species.
The study was conducted by a team of experts in genetics, forensics, imaging and pathology, led by Dr. Melba S. Ketchum of Nacogdoches, TX. In response to recent interest in the study, Dr. Ketchum can confirm that her team has sequenced 3 complete Sasquatch nuclear genomes and determined the species is a human hybrid:
“Our study has sequenced 20 whole mitochondrial genomes and utilized next generation sequencing to obtain 3 whole nuclear genomes from purported Sasquatch samples. The genome sequencing shows that Sasquatch mtDNA is identical to modern Homo sapiens, but Sasquatch nuDNA is a novel, unknown hominin related to Homo sapiens and other primate species. Our data indicate that the North American Sasquatch is a hybrid species, the result of males of an unknown hominin species crossing with female Homo sapiens.
Hominins are members of the taxonomic grouping Hominini, which includes all members of the genus Homo. Genetic testing has already ruled out Homo neanderthalis and the Denisova hominin as contributors to Sasquatch mtDNA or nuDNA. “The male progenitor that contributed the unknown sequence to this hybrid is unique as its DNA is more distantly removed from humans than other recently discovered hominins like the Denisovan individual,” explains Ketchum.
“Sasquatch nuclear DNA is incredibly novel and not at all what we had expected. While it has human nuclear DNA within its genome, there are also distinctly non-human, non-archaic hominin, and non-ape sequences. We describe it as a mosaic of human and novel non-human sequence. Further study is needed and is ongoing to better characterize and understand Sasquatch nuclear DNA.”
Ketchum is a veterinarian whose professional experience includes 27 years of research in genetics, including forensics. Early in her career she also practiced veterinary medicine, and she has previously been published as a participant in mapping the equine genome. She began testing the DNA of purported Sasquatch hair samples 5 years ago.
Ketchum calls on public officials and law enforcement to immediately recognize the Sasquatch as an indigenous people:
“Genetically, the Sasquatch are a human hybrid with unambiguously modern human maternal ancestry. Government at all levels must recognize them as an indigenous people and immediately protect their human and Constitutional rights against those who would see in their physical and cultural differences a ‘license’ to hunt, trap, or kill them.”
Full details of the study will be presented in the near future when the study manuscript publishes.
