Beautifully preserved cave bears emerge from Siberian permafrost

Author: Hooke

Score: 52

Comments: 17

Date: 2020-10-30 18:20:14

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blisterpeanuts wrote at 2020-10-30 23:00:40:

I wonder if we now have the technology to clone these beasts, given the huge trove of DNA.

Tiresome bioethics arguments aside ("We probably can, but _should_ we?"), it would be fascinating to witness a revival of Pleistocene fauna... maybe Neanderthals as well.

abeppu wrote at 2020-10-30 23:38:32:

I think it's unclear whether the technology yet exists but it may not be far off -- and we could de-extinct ecosystems, not just single organisms, potentially.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_Park#Animals_that_...

Some of the possibilities for animals that could plausibly be brought back are kinda wild. I'd love to see a living moa for example.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De-extinction#Future_potential...

bryanrasmussen wrote at 2020-10-30 23:58:00:

What would the expected profits of Pleistocene Park vs. the security risks look like.

aksss wrote at 2020-10-31 03:00:13:

It’ll be fine, totally fine. We’ll put the park on an island, that way it’s isolated, see? Walls, strict safety policies, emergency procedures. Also, they’re just ancient animals, they don’t have the advanced intelligence to outwit us.

Maursault wrote at 2020-10-30 22:03:05:

Does anyone know why cave bears and cave lions are named "cave" bears and "cave" lions? I refuse to believe entire species of megafauna lived in caves and that caves were somehow more plentiful in the distant past to be able to support the entirety of such large species. They should really come up with new and accurate descriptive names, or, at the very least, less inaccurate names.

mikequinlan wrote at 2020-10-30 22:10:24:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_bear

The cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) was a species of bear that lived in Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene and became extinct about 24,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum.

Both the word "cave" and the scientific name spelaeus are used because fossils of this species were mostly found in caves. This reflects the views of experts that cave bears may have spent more time in caves than the brown bear, which uses caves only for hibernation.

ComputerGuru wrote at 2020-10-30 22:35:59:

Or that’s where they were found because that’s the best-preserved place they sheltered in or went to die in. Especially for tigers: even domestic cats are known to search for a place to die alone and especially prefer cooler, darker places.

hutzlibu wrote at 2020-10-30 22:35:57:

"In fact, most cave bear fossils have been found inside caves, and paleontologists think these bears probably lived in the caves full-time, rather than just popping in for a quick four-month nap"

Well, the article states different, but also to me this seems highly unlikely. Also because apparently this cave bear was not found in a cave.

aksss wrote at 2020-10-31 03:02:07:

I always assumed it associated them with cave men, so was just a rough mechanism of dating the animals.

pvg wrote at 2020-10-31 03:05:06:

I asked this[1] of Jamie Woodward, an academic who tweets about Ice Age things. Sadly, he was unable or unwilling to answer.

[1] OK, not precisely this, my questions were: "Why do only the cool animals get to have a cave version? Was there no cave weasel, cave bunny, cave vole? Also, who would win in a fight between a honey badger and a cave badger?"

legerdemain wrote at 2020-10-30 21:01:46:

Nature is finally showing us some of her real treasures! There's no telling what wonders we will discover when all of this permafrost finally melts for good and mankind is able to access these inaccessible and rich terrains!

jbay808 wrote at 2020-10-30 21:48:14:

_Moria! Moria! Wonder of the Northern world. Too deep we delved there, and woke the nameless fear._ -- JRR Tolkien

hutzlibu wrote at 2020-10-30 22:41:54:

Are you refering to the gigatons of CO2 frozen in the permafrost and about to be released with the melting?

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/08/arcti...

e40 wrote at 2020-10-30 22:47:00:

Or perhaps ancient virus and bacteria stores.

https://www.google.com/search?q=permafrost+bacteria&oq=perma...

terrycody wrote at 2020-10-31 00:39:35:

Let me think about a movie:

The thaw!

nl wrote at 2020-10-30 22:00:55:

The extinction of these bears reminds me that as recently as 1969 major publication in the US like Sports Illustrated were calling for the Grizzly Bear to be eradicated from national parks.

https://vault.si.com/vault/43006

disown wrote at 2020-10-30 23:03:28:

Well at least it wasn't to commit genocide against the native americans. Baby steps.

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2016/05/the-buf...

It's interesting how most of the national/state/sports team animals are extinct or verge of extinction. California bears to michigan wolverines to the american bald eagle.