Christmas brought about a large number of points of celebration, but the week leading up to the holiday still had plenty of things busy, even with all the other various issues that were going around. The biggest thing at Horizon was their continued projects, and one of the biggest ones was the continued project that was working with various private firms that were looking at a de-extinction project that Animalia had opened up. Much of it related to what happened after Heather Wilcox became the first Dinotopian and opening up the ability for the Animalia Virus, given the right circumstances, to work with prehistoric animals as well as modern mammals. That ultimately lead to Dino City being founded, and as Doctor Stein looked over some papers on his desk, he hoped his former protegee, Jeremy Green was doing well down there.
Doctor Stein's project, and one that was being worked on as a "de-extinction project" moved forward in time from the Mesozoic to the Cenozoic. And to a degree, it was also something that fit the season in a way, for many people when they thought of that period in Earth's geologic history often thought of the Ice Ages in the Pleistocene and the various megafauna that lived in that time. People didn't always realize that periods in the Eocene and Miocene had been relatively warm and, in some places, even warmer than things had been at the end of the Mesozoic, though Doctor Stein also found that understandable. Most basic guidebooks on the Cenozoic Era often focused on things like Smilodon and the Wooly Mammoth, which were both Pleistocene animals. The main part of the project also focused on that, which was to bring back the Wooly Mammoth.
That program was older than Horizon's involvement, and largely related to the fact that the Asian Elephant, Elephas Maximus, and the Wooly Mammoth, Mammuthus Primigenius, weren't considered too distantly related in terms of evolution. However, there had been various concerns over the preservation of fossil DNA, moral questions over the use of an endangered species on a scientific project that could guarantee both success and safety for the Asian Elephants to be used, along with other related issues. Some of the biggest problems presently related to the issues between the US and Russia, as the leading group wanting to bring the Wooly Mammoth back were Russian and had a section of Siberia actually set aside to be a sort of "Mammoth Preserve" once the project could be done. Horizon was recently brought in as part of the program because of the success they'd had with the Dinotopians, and confirmed when Manfred became a Wooly Mammoth Animalian. But with issues now cooling relations between the US and Russian governments, there were concerns that Putin in Russia would cut Horizon off from any of the research and work that would come AFTER the Wooly Mammoth was "recreated."
The resulting plan was to work out a deal with Canada that would allow for the de-extinction project to be done twice. The Russians would have their "park" in Siberia while Horizon would have access to a similar park just east of the Canadian Rockies and in a spot where the Human population was low enough that they might be curious about being involved with the project and possibly even allowing for an Animalian Colony "city" that would work for more Cenozoic Animalians. There were a fair number of them at present, but most were all in Lyre/Animalia. And some weren't in Lyre/Animalia but weren't likely to move to the resulting Cenozoic Colony city. Dory had moved to Dino City to be with Walter and Martha's parents, Sidney and Brook returned to Minesota. This then left Horizon at a starting point that wasn't too different from what had gone on with the establishment of Dino City.
Though, like they'd gotten some help in possible volunteers for Project Pleistocene, and that was presently what had Doctor Stein sitting in his office and letting Judy handle some of the present conversions. He glanced between some papers on reports that related to the present work on the other projected related to the de-extinction project with the Wooly Mammoth, which was the main point that supported all of Project Pleistocene, and with his computer screen where he expected to be in conference with those that would be among the volunteers for the program through Skype/Zoom. After a few moments those links began to activate on the screen, and Doctor Stein then turned to face them. Setting the papers to a side and moved a hand to then click on and answer the incoming "calls." This then brought up four screens which showed four men, one in each screen, and three women who were sharing a screen with one of the men. The fourth man was alone.
"You seem to favor a lot of this high-tech stuff," the first man spoke with a chuckle as his wife seemed to almost chide him silently as he spoke.
"For communication purposes, yes," Doctor Stein answered, "Mister..."
"Vickers, Adrian Vickers," the man answered, "and this is my wife, Millie."
"Ebenezer Thurbin," the second man introduced himself, "and my wife Tillie."
"Isiah Miles and my wife Theresa," the third man said.
"Victor Vital," the fourth man spoke, "we all own ranches in this area where you're wanting to raise these cloned mammoths."
"That is a big part of the plan," Doctor Stein replied, "though we were surprised to learn you wanted to convert as well."
"Well... it may be needed if we're to be herding mammoths," Tillie gave a chuckle, "though... I'm at a bit of a loss on how that will work?"
"The various teams are still working on the specific details, as raising the mammoths may end up relying on a Mammoth Animalian we already have," Doctor Stein spoke, "though, there we'd have to find a way to make sure that we don't end up with another Animalian... since the project is to recreate the actual animal. Much of that may ultimately only be in designing the genome and going from there. From there, we'd need to be sure that we wouldn't be taxing the elephant that would carry the first Wooly Mammoth calves and that will take some time."
"And in the meantime, you want our ranches to be... rebuilt to accommodate them?" Adrian said slowly, "or any other Animalians that would likely come up to help, "what will that do with the cattle we raise?"
"More to keep the mammoths before wandering too far away at the moment," Doctor Stein answered, "and to see as to how we can expect how these animals might interact with modern animals. The big thing might require importing more food to be imported, but getting hay brought in shouldn't be a problem. At the same time, if the mammoths tolerate the cattle... they may ultimately protect the cattle from potential predators."
"That might actually be good," Victor commented, "we really haven't had any real problems with wolves or bears... but every once and a while, we do lose a calf to them. If these mammoths protect the cattle... things could go well."
"The only thing that might be tricky would be setting up an area where the cattle can be gathered when you move to sell them," Doctor Stein pointed out.
"We were ultimately thinking of something like a gated area near one of the main roads near the edge of our ranch," Millie spoke, "it'd have easier access and with all the cattle being tagged, we should be able to keep track."
"But that's also something we can discuss in private," Adrian said to his neighbors, "I would think right now... all we'd need is some ideas on what we may have to do regarding the kind of Animalians we might be come."
"It might be best to let me know what Animalian you'd want to become," Doctor Stein spoke.
"Mine might be a bit different," Victor said slowly, "but if we're to be herding mammoths, I figure to go big. Fond online that one the largest mammals ever was called Paraceratherium. Supposed to be a big rhino without a horn."
"We were thinking of becoming American Lions," Adrian spoke.
"We were thinking on being Elasmotherium," Ebenezer added.
"The ACTUAL unicorn," Tillie chuckled.
Isiah was the last to speak, and he looked over to his wife before saying, "were actually thinking on the Cave Bear. Probably wouldn't be too different in size from your Brown Bear Animalians... but the actual animal was more herbivorous and even if we don't end up with mammoths to herd... it'd be strong enough that we could at least deter the actual bears."
Doctor Stein nodded for a moment, "well... for Isiah, Theresa, Adrian, and Millie wouldn't need to do too much with regard to their homes, though their furniture might need to handle their weight... as the American Lion and the Cave Bear are going to be comparable to a fair number of modern animals. There wouldn't be too many major alterations that would be needed."
The four people gave a bit of a whistle and waited for Doctor Stein to then finish.
"Victor, Ebenezer, and Tillie, however, would need new houses," Doctor Stein spoke in warning, "it wouldn't have to be Dinotopian sized, as Dino City was built and scaled to Sauropod sizes. But Elasmotherium and Paraceratherium are both large animals in their own right and would require MASSIVE upgrades just to support the heights you would grow to. It would also mean that public buildings built on your lands would also have to be built to your new sizes as well."
"We'd then have to wait to convert, then," Tillie said slowly.
"Yes," Doctor Stein spoke, "now... given things, Horizon might well pay for this... as those specific species would be interesting for those paleontologists that would be interested in them... BUT, you'd still likely have to wait for things to be built to the scale of what you'd grow to."
"Interesting," Victor said slowly, "but I'd think it'd ultimately be worth it... and if it's built to look like the Old West... it'd be worth it."
Doctor Stein could only whistle at that.