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We live in a fascinating age where the boundaries that once stifled the process of cloning have
greatly thinned.
Now it’s as if we’ve stumbled upon a veritable Lazarus Pit and are looking to repopulate
the world with beasts long-since vanished.
While some claim the science behind de-extinction is tantamount to “playing God,” that hasn’t
stopped scientists from pursuing the resurrection of these ten extinct animals.
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10.
Auroch Before there were domesticated cattle, there
was the auroch.
Once a species of the plains of Europe, the auroch vanished entirely by 1627, but recent
efforts have pointed to bringing this 6’ (1.8 m)-tall behemoth cattle back to life.
Utilizing a process of selective breeding, researchers hope to be able to use the domesticated
cattle to eventually produce a viable auroch, but it’s a lengthy process that involves
first reconstructing the extinct animal’s DNA through bone and teeth fragments then
matching that with current cattle species to find the best match.
9.
Great Auk For years before its disappearance in the
mid-19th century, the great auk suffered from game hunting along the coasts of the North
Atlantic.
It’s possible that we feel a pang of guilt about completely eradicating the species because
now we’re dead set on bringing this penguin-esque, flightless bird back to life.
Spearheading the resurrection of the great auk is Revive & Restore, an organization dedicated
to the “genetic rescue of endangered and extinct species.”
R&R hopes to extract genetic material from fossils of the auk to fuel the genome sequencing
needed to modify and fertilize the embryo of a razorbill.
8.
Passenger Pigeon Another candidate eyed up by Revive & Restore,
the passenger pigeon is a relatively newly extinct bird, with the last of its kind spotted
in the early 20th century.
Due to human intervention in its habitat and extensive hunting, the pigeon was driven to
extinction but is also believed to be a proper candidate for a miraculous return.
Ample DNA pulled from dry tissue and bone and the existence of a closely related relative,
the band-tail pigeon, all work in favor of bringing back this once-wild pigeon.
7.
Gastric-Brooding Frogs Known for its considerably unusual method
of birthing its young, the gastric-brooding frog, or platypus frog, was last observed
in the 1980s.
Due to its recent extinction, scientists have their eye on bringing the frog back through
a method of somatic-cell nuclear transfer, a specific means of cloning where a body cell
and egg cell are used to create an embryo.
Female platypus frogs swallowed their eggs, converting their stomach into a womb and,
upon birth, they regurgitated their young.
Thanks to pathogenic fungi introduced by man, this unique frog was completely eradicated.
6.
Tasmanian Tiger Former Australian, Tasmanian, and New Guinea
native, the Tasmanian Tiger was also known more formally as the thylacine.
When the last of this species died out in captivity in 1936 it was a loss felt heavy
in the regions it once scoured.
In 1999, the Australian Museum launched a project to clone the thylacine using genetic
material taken from specimen preserved in the 20th century.
Though initial attempts resulted in failure, later research led to the alleged completed
sequencing of the thylacine mitochondrial genome, giving promise to the possible future
revival of this incredible species.
5.
Mastodon A relative of the modern elephant, the mastodon
once called Central and North America its home during the Pliocene and Miocene periods.
Once believed to have fallen victim to the tenacious nature of man, more recent research
points to a more rapid mass extinction, possibly connected to tuberculosis.
Focus on reviving the mastodon has largely been overshadowed by another popular prehistoric
mammal, but there are eyes focused on bringing the 9’ (2.8m)-long Proboscidea back from
its status of “extinct.” 4.
Smilodon You know what our world is missing?
Giant cats that grow up to around 4’ (1.2 m)-tall with massive canines that could reach
almost a foot (.3 m) in length.
This saber-toothed cats may be a fascinating prehistoric creature, but even specialists
around Yellowstone National Park can see the disastrous scenarios that could arise from
bringing these ferocious felines back.
Regardless of potential pitfalls, researchers have the smilodon on their shortlist of candidates
for de-extinction. 3.
Dodo We’ve covered the dodo in prior Archives
covering extinct animals, but we couldn’t help but chuckle at the efforts put into bringing
this flightless bird back from the dead.
On its home island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, the dodo had no natural predators.
That is, of course, until man came along.
The perception that they were dumb comes from the fact that they wouldn’t run from humans
that were hunting them and essentially let us kill them to extinction.
Now we’re all about trying to bring them back.
Guilty much?
2.
Moa They’re certainly trying, but researchers
have been hitting a roadblock in their attempt to resurrect this giant flightless bird.
Prior to being hunted into extinction, the moa was an oversized bird, similar to the
common emu, that was endemic to New Zealand.
At an average height of 12’ (3.6m), the moa towered as the dominant herbivore in the
Kiwi forests with only two known predators – man and the Haast’s eagle.
Considering its relatively recent extinction, researchers are hopeful they can clone a moa
from any of the number of the remains still available.
1.
Woolly Mammoth Maybe the most obvious inclusion in this video,
researchers have been very vocal about bringing back the prehistoric woolly mammoth.
In fact, a movement has been pretty consistent on seeing this Pleistocene brought back to
life.
The latest development comes from a team of scientists from Harvard who believe they will
be able to create an elephant-mammoth hybrid embryo within the next few years.
Other teams have been on the hunt for living tissue or viable sperm cells within frozen
specimen, hoping to either extract DNA for cloning or impregnate an elephant.
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