back to article Peruvian spuds entombed in Arctic 'doomsday vault'

More than 1,000 Peruvian potato varieties are destined for entombment in the Arctic's Svalbard Global Seed Vault amid fears they may be threatened in their traditional home. The BBC explains that the Cusco Potato Park will provide 1,500 distinct tuber examples for storage in the "doomsday vault", whose purpose is to "store …

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  1. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

    If you are caught outsid in the rain, stand under a tree ...

    ... when the tree gets wet through and starts dripping on you, stand under a different tree.

    If climate change makes it difficult to preserve potatoes in the Andes, we can rest assured that natural freezer provided by the antarctic climate will protect potato seeds for us.

    1. Ammaross Danan
      FAIL

      Note

      You would be keen to note that it's the Arctic ice that's melting. The Antarctic is actually gaining ice.

      Anyway, of all the places in the world, the Antarctic is most likely going to remain the coldest.

      1. Goat Jam
        Paris Hilton

        Antarctic?

        The article clearly states that the seedbank is situated in the Arctic and the link to the seed vault confirms that.

  2. Lars Silver badge
    Pint

    All well

    As long as the Bush Jr. potatoe brain is not let in.

    Appreciated his father, hovewer. not speking of god, of course.

    You need a plus one beer icon for some of us.

  3. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Svalbard is oop north

    Svalbard is a bit chilly, it's the sort of place where even gordies put on a jumper.

    It would take a lot of global warming to turn it into a tropical paradise - and then they have freezers.

    It doesn't take much of a temperature rise to change the rainfall or allow some new insect to live in the potatoes natural home.

  4. JeffyPooh
    WTF?

    Post-Apocalypse...

    How do the unwashed, global-catastrophy survivors get from where they emerge into The New Dawn, all the way up to the Arctic 'doomsday vault' to sign-out a potato? It's a very long donkey-cart ride from central South America to Svlabard Island. Perhaps part of The Plan should be to stash some business jets in various caves around the world.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Some questions.....

    Why not just put these potatoes in the Ark of the Covenant?? The U.S. Government has done a pretty good job of keeping that safe, sound and out of sight since Indy procured the relic from the Nazis in the late 1930's.

    Does this explain why I no longer see kids playing with Mr. Potato-Head? I hope you guys gave him a little potato-sized parka.....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      re: Mr. Potato-Head

      They wrecked Mr. Potato Head by making the spikes blunt. Of course if the bits don't have proper spikes you can't stick them into the fruit or veg of your choice, you have to make do with the crap plastic potato they give you - you don't even get to choose where to place the parts.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    At first I thought this was an article about football...

    ...that spud photo has an uncanny likeness to Wayne Rooney.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Darn potato gangs..

    "amid fears they may be threatened in their traditional home"

    I once saw a mob of King Edward going down a field of Jersey Royal at night, uprooting, frenching and frying them. What an appaling view, I had to turn my head away. They did taste good though.

  8. Tom 7

    Pity they didnt think of this earlier

    As a brewer I'd like to grow the barley that grew in the fields on my 18 acre smallholding before ww2. Alas they no longer exist and the new improved varieties wont even grow here.

  9. John 62
    Coat

    Potato Park?

    Sounds like the latest theme park in Ireland!

  10. The elephant in the room
    Coat

    It looks like a thingie!

    Mine's the one made of black adderskin.

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