Chinese Company To Sell Genetically Modified Micro Pigs as Pets (abc.net.au) 139
An anonymous reader writes: Tyne McConnon from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports that a research firm in China plans to"sell its 'micro pig' as a pet after it successfully edited the DNA of the animal to stunt its growth. Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) created the pig, which grows to weigh between 14 and 20 kilograms, by changing the DNA responsible for its growth. The company originally genetically modified the Bama pig breed for research but announced at a Bio Tech Leader summit in China recently their plans to sell it."
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Topical? Wot, like some kind of oinkment?
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Topical? Wot, like some kind of oinkment?
No, silly. From Kansas.
Elephants next, please (Score:5, Interesting)
Arthur Clarke pointed out decades ago that some kind of mini-elephant would be a great home service animal. With a trunk to work with, it could open refrigerators, pick up the phone, and do other delicate handling operations.
Re:Elephants next, please (Score:5, Interesting)
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That's funny, because "plopping" was the first thing I thought of when you wrote about the mini-elephant. Better have some pet dung beetles to clean up after them.
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Specifically, they implied that they engineered it when it was found instead.
No, they created it, but while they did imply it was done through genetic manipulation it was actually done by messing with hormones. They also didn't tell investors that they were having trouble replicating it and that the lead scientist who created it was dying of cancer.
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Specifically, they implied that they engineered it when it was found instead.
No, they created it, but while they did imply it was done through genetic manipulation it was actually done by messing with hormones. They also didn't tell investors that they were having trouble replicating it and that the lead scientist who created it was dying of cancer.
they washed an elephant and put in the dryer, to eliminate the wrinkles, and it shrunk.
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A house elephant? Careful what you ask for. A German child series [youtube.com] thought this through already ;-)
Re:Elephants next, please (Score:5, Funny)
"some kind of mini-elephant"
A truncated elephant, presumably?
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"some kind of mini-elephant"
A truncated elephant, presumably?
Heh, that's worthy of mod points. Sadly I do not have any to bestow upon you. :(
Re: Elephants next, please (Score:2)
Many kids would like to have this one http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b... [youtube.com]
a blue elephant from German TV.
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And fill the manure pile with ease.
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Arthur Clarke pointed out decades ago that some kind of mini-elephant would be a great home service animal. With a trunk to work with, it could open refrigerators, pick up the phone, and do other delicate handling operations.
not ideal scale, though, what with the cube/square scaling thing. might be better off breeding some sort of intelligent chimp. hairless so they don't shed, except for maybe some decoration here and there. more of an upright critter than a knuckle walker, to free up the hands.
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Time to break out the PASCAL and write an extension module
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Micro piglets stalk your dungeon
Stars awale you when you rise
Micropork (Score:3)
Was there a little pork in the budget?
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Heh, they breed pigs for pet and dogs for food?
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"Was there a little pork in the budget?"
Enough to bring home the bacon.
Hilarious scam (Score:5, Funny)
We've seen this scam... sell a piglet as a "micro-pig" and by the time the new pig owner discovers it's actually a full-sized, regular pig, the seller has moved on to a new town.
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Maybe it's a scam to sell less bacon. 3 strips will be 3 tiny dental-floss-sized strips now. Marketers realized that "strip" was never defined.
Will it flush ? (Score:1)
I guess the only solution is then to flush the pig down the toilet, thereby breeding with flushed crocodiles and creating the mythical CrocPig genetically modified superanimal, in miniature version.
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I guess the only solution is then to flush the pig down the toilet, thereby breeding with flushed crocodiles and creating the mythical CrocPig genetically modified superanimal, in miniature version.
Somewhere a Syfy writer just called their producer to pitch a new movie idea.
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I guess the only solution is then to flush the pig down the toilet, thereby breeding with flushed crocodiles and creating the mythical CrocPig genetically modified superanimal, in miniature version.
they've already washed out to sea where they're breeding with abalone, to create the dreaded crocabalone.
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It takes three years for a piglet to grow to a full size pig. This gives ample time to move on to a new town.
Call this a micropig? [dailymail.co.uk]
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We've seen this scam... sell a piglet as a "micro-pig" and by the time the new pig owner discovers it's actually a full-sized, regular pig, the seller has moved on to a new town.
It would be interesting to know if it is to be a house pet. Pigs are smarter than dogs, but so is their Poop. That smell smarts badly.
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sorry (Score:4, Funny)
That's just oinkredible.
You keep using that word (Score:2)
but I do no think it means what you think it means. 20 kilograms is hardly "micro". That's a medium sized dog with very hard feet.
Re:You keep using that word (Score:4, Insightful)
Pig Box? (Score:2)
Can it be box trained?
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Yes.
Not sure that our cat ever forgave us, though.
And the pig goes ... (Score:2)
Grows to weigh between 14 and 20 kilos? (Score:2)
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The first thing I thought of when I saw these small pigs was to release them into the Texas wilds. If they wind up breeding with the feral hogs, they might just reduce the size (and thus hazard) of those things.
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If they wind up breeding with the feral hogs, they might just reduce the size (and thus hazard) of those things.
....as long as they improve the taste!
[ I gots my buh bebbe bebbe bebbe bebbe back ribs]
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If they wind up breeding with the feral hogs, they might just reduce the size (and thus hazard) of those things.
Now I know how all those white women must have felt.
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Ethics and morality are only vague concepts that China redefines for profit on an hourly basis
LOL, you're giving them too much credit. I'm sure it's more like 'anything we can get stupid round-eyes to buy from us for too much money is all to the good'. Wouldn't at all be surprised if they also have a genetically-engineered disease that's communicable to humans and will kill us all, or make us sterile, or something else grossly injurious to us. Don't forget the baby milk with the melanin in it, the poisonous pet food, and the acidic toxic-as-fuck drywall that makes you sick as it tries to dissolve your entire house. The goram Chinese don't give a flying fuck about us stupid round-eyes, they'd just as soon we all fucked off and died, so they could swoop in and take our land and our property.
and we keep buying from the lowest bidder, carefully constructing our contracts so that if the supplier delivers us vitamins that kill people, it's not our liability, it's entirely theirs.
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They learned from USA
Well they have sold lamb as Poodles before (Score:2)
I'm sure these Genetically Modified Micro Pigs have a market.
http://metro.co.uk/2007/04/26/... [metro.co.uk]
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Say Oink! (Score:1)
You are all micro pigs. Say Oooink Oooink you pigs! Pigs all say Oooink
Delicious pet (Score:3)
This is a good solution for the problem that we aren't keen on eating the family dog when it's done and the dog is a lost cause. With a micro pig pet, it would be a crime not to eat him!
I heard the story of grandpa being like 10 year old or less during the war when they had to cook his rabbit friend, now that was heart breaking.
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I woukd rather starve than eat my pets.
If it came to that, you would starve to death, THEN your neighbors would eat your pet.
Consider this, I am sure your pet would rather die to feed you instead of feeding your neighbors.
you forgot the intermediate step, where your pets eat your starved body before your neighbors break in and grill them.
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Especially if they did it in that order.
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Nope. You are eaten BY your pet, that neighbours eat then.
two words: pocket bacon. (Score:2)
In the immortal words of Stan Lee: "'Nuff said."
Paris Hilton (Score:2)
Paris Hilton already has an order in to add one of these to her collection of purse pets.
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Like she said during her Presidential campaign, "If you're going to put lipstick on a pig, make sure that shiz matches her skin tone."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Where's my glow-in-the dark cat? (Score:2)
south park (Score:2)
Do they look like Mr. Garrison ?
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south pork?
Old school genetic engineering (Score:3)
We turned this [wikimedia.org] into this [wikimedia.org] in a couple of generations of selective breeding. What's the big difference here?
Asking for it (Score:1)
*Yawn* (Score:2)
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I might be interested when it also glows in the dark. A tiny little glow pig would be awesome. This should be feasible at current levels of technology. Get to it!
make them hollow, and eat spare change. then poop it out when you shake them.
common lab rat and mice strains are pets already (Score:2)
This doesn't sound very (Score:2)
novel insult, I must say (Score:2)
"Genetically modified micro pigs".
That's a terrible thing to call a computer programmer, even if they did malicious things and were arrested at the behest of the USA.
Mr. Nobody (Score:1)
Next order of business (Score:4, Funny)
Step 2: hollow up those bones
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Add some wings and finally get some closure on that damn proverb!
Small? (Score:2)
pygmy hogs already exist (Score:2)
However they are critically endangered (less than 200 left).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Only dogs are friends. All others are only pets. (Score:3, Informative)
All other animals are either domesticated or feral animals conditioned by food reward. They are merely pets.
Ogdan Nash put it perfectly. Outside of dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of dog, it is too dark to read.
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Only dogs have co-evolved with humans for 25000 years, they are the only species that "understand" humans. They will look where you look. They will look at the object you point to, not at your pointing finger. They are the symbiotic species, friends for humans, set us towards the path of sedentism and later domestication of other plants and animals. Nomadic bands of pre-dog humans kept killing each other. Without dogs acting as early warning systems, humans could never have developed sedentism, even when the fertile lands where hunting and gathering was good.
All other animals are either domesticated or feral animals conditioned by food reward. They are merely pets.
Ogdan Nash put it perfectly. Outside of dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of dog, it is too dark to read.
they're just setting us up. once we grow complacent and soft, they will take away our guns.
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No pets (Score:2)
Goodbye pet pigs, welcome the 1 person household ham.
cute? really? (Score:2)
It never ceases to amaze me what some people think is cute.
can we do this on humans? (Score:2)
I wonder if this sort of resizing could work on humans. If a human develops fully but ends up at half the size, it would work out well for reducing pollution, food demands, traffic jams and all sorts of other full-sized human problems.
Moore's Law? (Score:2)
You would think that by now they would have nano pigs that are just as cute but eat 1/16 of the food.
The Scam Returns (Score:2)
not only they're cute (Score:2)
i get hungry just looking at him (Score:1)
As long as they stay away from hippos... (Score:2)
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that might have swine flu
OTOH, you can eat bacon anytime you want [xkcd.com].
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They need to make pigs where you can peel off the bacon from their hides like bark on birch or cork trees.
Ommmmm. Come here little piggy.
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Or, you know, Ebola. /s
Re: reverse it instead... (Score:2)
It's hard to market genetically modified food in the US these days. But people have less trouble with gmo pets I guess.
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make bigger pigs, make bigger plants... and feed the world.
oh, i see. there's more money selling a novelty pet, and all the chinese-made accessories for them, to the 1 percent, than it is to sell cheap food to the rest of us.
What advantage is there to a bigger pig? Pigs are already pretty big, making them bigger won't necessarily make them cheaper. Chicken are a lot smaller than pigs and usually cost less per pound than pig.
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Actually the reason for well done pig is they tend to carry parasites that also attack humans. A lot of this was due to feeding them garbage. Pigs will eat anything.
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Well hell, you learn something new every day. I never thought of parasites as a disease before now. Hell, I didn't think zoonotic was even a real word. My spell checker hates it.
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Well hell, you learn something new every day. I never thought of parasites as a disease before now. Hell, I didn't think zoonotic was even a real word. My spell checker hates it.
awesome name for a band though.