Russians Recover Fresh Flowing Mammoth Blood

[nickiknack]

About 15,000 years ago, an old female wooly mammoth plunged through the ice as she was being chased by predators. Her remains have now been uncovered by scientists working in Siberia. And remarkably, as they were digging it out, blood began to stream out. Which is weird given that it was 10° below freezing.

It's not known if the blood or tissue samples contain living cells required for cloning. And even if such cells are recovered, the DNA repair would require a very complex process that could take years. A report is expected later this July.

Semyon Grigoriev, head of the Museum of Mammoths of the Institute of Applied Ecology of the North at the North Eastern Federal University, is calling it "the best preserved mammoth in the history of paleontology."

During the excavation, and and as the researchers were chipping away at the ice, they noticed splotches of dark blood in the ice cavities below the mammoth’s belly. When they broke through with a poll pick, blood started to flow out.

"It can be assumed that the blood of mammoths had some cryo-protective properties,” noted Grigoriev. Mammoth blood, it would appear, contains a kind of anti-freeze. This is consistent with work done by Canadian geneticists who in 2010 showed that mammoth hemoglobin releases its oxygen much more readily at cold temperatures than that of modern elephants.

http://io9.com/russians-recover-fresh-flowing-mammoth-blood-510263294

This is pretty cool, given that it's been frozen for so long

[Søren]

That must have been so freaky when it started flowing out

[Shane for Wax]

I'm more amused about the readily available story of how the mammoth got in that spot.

[Sigmaleph]

I will admit, my first thought after reading "cryo-protective properties" was try to imagine some way to use mammoth's blood in cryonics.

[chad sexington]

Hey, guess where the story originated?  Russia Today!  Well I'll be!

[Random Gal]

If it's that fresh, perhaps there are a few undamaged cells with enough material for cloning.

I can hope, right?

[R. U. Sirius]

Am I the only one secretly hoping that the mammoth is actually still alive and revives to wreak havoc in their lab?

[Witchyjoshy]

Am I the only one secretly hoping that the mammoth is actually still alive and revives to wreak havoc in their lab?

That would be so metal.

[SpaceProg]

Am I the only one secretly hoping that the mammoth is actually still alive and revives to wreak havoc in their lab?

You read my mind.

[Askold]

Am I the only one secretly hoping that the mammoth is actually still alive and revives to wreak havoc in their lab?

That would be so metal.

It would be even more metal if the mammoth was dead but would still get up and start wreaking havoc.

[wrightway]

There are movies on the syfy channel with this exact premise.

[mellenORL]

And they sadly manage to be not so metal, at all.

[nickiknack]

And they sadly manage to be not so metal, at all.

But they're good for a laugh.

[Old Viking]

Now I'm wondering whether anything other than havoc has ever been wreaked.

[The Illusive Man]

We are all missing the big picture here:
Mammoth burgers, mammoth steak.
Clothing made from mammoth wool.

Advertise it as Mammoth with an mmm…tasty.