Scientists trying to clone, resurrect extinct mammoth
 

The Japanese were just included so they could try out recipes.

To really do that title right, you should have said "Science-studying scientists trying and attempting to clone, resurrect extinct mammoth." That would have been totally clear. Or at least more clear than how a single baby mammoth can have an ecology. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/tongue.gif

Are we really expecting mammoth to be that tasty? Elephant isn't a highly sought after meat, as far as I know.

Elephants are protected by hunting bans. A pair of tusks brings in tens of thousands of dollars, far more than a carcass would, and they are far more easily transportable.

If you can get away with killing elephants, the economics pushes you to take the tusks and leave the meat, and that's precisely what's done.

a) Whales are not truly protected. The Japanese exploit the loopholes in the international agreements in a way which is impossible for land animals
b) Whale meat is the bulk of revenue from whaling because there is so much of it per animal, and because the luxury products per carcass don't scale up with size from elephant kills

Whales are right next door, ready to be harvested for "scientific research" on whether they go better with soy sauce or sesame oil. Are elephants so incredibly yummy that it's worth smuggling their meat from halfway around the world? It's certainly not practical to farm something that eats that much, requires so much land, and has such power. Not for food, anyway. They'd be something like $200 a pound, even the dumbest rich people couldn't tell themselves it was that good.

Whales are right next door, ready to be harvested for "scientific research" on whether they go better with soy sauce or sesame oil.

The Southern Ocean is not "right next door" to Japan, you imbecile.

Are elephants so incredibly yummy that it's worth smuggling their meat from halfway around the world?

The Southern Ocean is also "halfway around the world" from Japan, just in a north-south direction rather than an east-west one. Distance means nothing to the Japanese!

So I don't know their favored poaching grounds. Whatever. Nobody protects whales, and they're hunted in international waters far away from people. They don't have to bribe anybody or sneak around, or worry about overland transport. Or tropical diseases, or any of the other weird, horrible crap that goes on in Africa. They can go in, kill a whale openly and do whatever they want with the carcass, without danger.

EDIT: Well, they do have to worry about storms, that's one danger.

To follow up on Elok's stupid point...

Distance from Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market to Nairobi, Kenya = 6119 miles

Distance from Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market to Sturge Island in the Southern Ocean = 6250 miles

Learn some goddamn geography.

Nobody protects whales, and they're hunted in international waters far away from people. They don't have to bribe anybody or sneak around, or worry about overland transport. Or tropical diseases, or any of the other weird, horrible crap that goes on in Africa. They can go in, kill a whale openly and do whatever they want with the carcass, without danger.

http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...s/neeschud.gif

http://www.seashepherd.org/whales/

Actually, if you had taken the time to do some research, you would've discovered that elephant meat develops an unpleasant smell and taste shortly after the animal is killed. I imagine mammoth to be similar, preventing any real market existing for mammoth meat.

edit: Apparently elephant meat is good if you smoke it right away, however, so maybe there is a chance. http://www.discussworldissues.com/im...ons/icon14.gif

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,279080,00.html

What utter nonsense. I doubt you've ever killed OR eaten elephant, unlike some of us.

Iritani said, "once the mammoth is born, we'll examine its ecology."

Probably just a mistranslation by a journalist with babelfish or something, but I thought it sounded funny.

What? Take your prozac. Unless you did, in which case, ease off the prozac. It's gotta be one of the two.

If you mean the baby mammoth is going to hump a cat, I don't think that counts as "ecology."

Okay, so what was the point you were making?

They were a more practical food choice back then, I'm sure. Hard to kill, but in an age of megafauna, what wasn't?

Screw the mammoths That prediction may not be that far off... those trunks are somewhat like tentacles after all.

I suppose multiples of what I was talking about are to be expected in short order as well... (I accidentally clicked on the report post icon just now for my own post, so if I go missing, you know who to thank!)

What a misanthropic and ecotardistic comic. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ons/icon13.gif

My vote's for "nonsensical but harmless."