Scientists want to bring back 22 extinct animal species

LAST WEEKEND AT a TEDx conference in Washington DC sponsored by National Geographic, scientists met to discuss which animals should be brought back from extinction. They also discussed the how, why and ethics of doing so.

They called it de-extinction.

A cover story for this months National Geographic explains how de-extinction rests on a relatively simple premise: it involves taking old DNA samples, reassembling them into a full genome which is then injected into embryonic cells which have had their own DNA taken out, and then finding a suitable living surrogate to give birth.

The Washington Post reports that ten years ago, a team of scientists from France and Spain almost brought back an extinct wild goat but it only lived for 10 minutes.  It raises a host of issues, including how scientists can get a good enough sample of DNA from the extinct animal and whether or not they should.

There are a few guidelines for which ancient species are considered, and sadly, dinosaurs are so long dead they arent in the picture. Their DNA has long ago degraded, so researchers are fairly sure that Jurassic Park will never happen.

They chose the animals using the following criteria: Are the species desirable do they hold an important ecological function or are they beloved by humans? Are the species practical choices do we have access to tissue that could give us good quality DNA samples or germ cells to reproduce the species? And are they able to be reintroduced into the world are the habitats in which they live available and do we know why they went extinct in the first place?

Even with the criteria, this still leaves plenty of other animals on the table. The list of candidates is actually pretty long, considering.

The cost of de-extinction varies by species but projects could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more. Then theres also the cost of housing the animals once they are created, and re-introducing them into the world and protecting them from poachers once they are there.

But if you were the zoo that had that one woolly mammoth or saber-toothed cat, these costs might just be worth it.

Here are 22 of the 24 animals they are hoping to one day resurrect.

• Carolina Parakeet
• Quagga
• Moho
• Dodo
• Thylacine
• Cuban Macaw
• Smilidon
• Pyrenean ibex
• Huia
• Passenger pigeon
• Elephant bird
• Aurochs
• Caribbean monk seal
• Moa
• Mastodon
• Woolly mammoth
• Great Auk
• Imperial Woodpecker
• Ivory-billed woodpecker
• Heath Hen
• Labrador duck
• Dusky seaside sparrow

http://www.thejournal.ie/science-conference-de-extinction-840062-Mar2013/

Cool stuff. I hope this works out because I'd definitely pay a high price to visit a zoo with these kinds of animals.

Reviving the wooly mamoth would be awesome, those make our elephants look tiny!

That would be awesome. Always figured dodo birds must have been delicious...

Saber-toothed cats walking around again>>>>Any of my reservations about man playing God.megagene

we should revive the old ToU.Allicrombie

I was listening to a story last night about scientist trying to resurrect an extinct species of frog. I find it interesting that we are creating lists of species we want to revive before we have really proven we can do so with any sort of success. That being said the idea of it is quite exciting.

Saber-toothed cats walking around again>>>>Any of my reservations about man playing God.megagene

I have not read the OP (my eyes are watering if I look at the screen too much) so I don't know if this has been answered already. Nonetheless, if someone could tell me in a simple yes or no, I would appreciate it, but... Wouldn't cloning extinct species back require complete DNA samples? Anything less would lead to an inauthentic clone, not the real thing. Do we have full DNA samples for the species listed in the OP?DropsofJupiter

we should revive the old ToU.Allicrombie

Trolling was fun under the old ToU.

Trolling was fun under the old ToU.

coolbeans90

[QUOTE="coolbeans90"]

Trolling was fun under the old ToU.

Serraph105

yes, I say do it my vote is for the mammothlamprey263

That and Smilidon, more commonly known as a "sabre-toothed tiger"

Can't say I like this 

[QUOTE="coolbeans90"]

Trolling was fun under the old ToU.

Serraph105

Considered alone, yes. However, in a broader context, it doesn't really matter. It was more fun to troll under the old ToU in part because it was a challenging line to walk. This kept the number of sh!tty trolls in check.

I'm all for it.

Sure, why not?

Bring back Wooly mammoths.

this would make the zoo 20x more awesome

Are we playing God? Yes, and it is awesome.

we should revive the old ToU.Allicrombie

Now now, that just sounds like another user. :P

I wanna pet T-rex.

This is a little scary. Imagine when the tech becomes more mainstream and a rogue group of scientists could clone Neanderthals or other hominid species. kuraimen

screw the rest of those animals because they had their chance and blew it.

but as far as the mammoth and the great auk goes we should do it.

they would be delicious.

the sole reason those two are extinct is because of how yummy they are.

I don't think they should bring back extinct animals. Survival of the fittest, evolution, and eco system etc.LJS9502_basic

As long as cheetahs aren't ever gone from this world, I will be a happy human.3eyedrazorback

As long as cheetahs aren't ever gone from this world, I will be a happy human.3eyedrazorback

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"]I don't think they should bring back extinct animals. Survival of the fittest, evolution, and eco system etc.Serraph105