Resurrecting extinct animals is no longer a fantasy, but is it a good idea?
From the Woolly mammoth to the saber-toothed tiger, here are 8 animals that scientists
are trying to bring back from extinction.
8.
Saber-Tooth Cats There are many animals from the ice age that
scientists are talking about bringing back, but easily one of the more surprising suggestions
they have is the Saber-Toothed Cat.
These massive cats were the ancestors to many of the "big cats" we have in the world today.
With the exception that they had fangs that our cats could only dream of, and they were
much more vicious.
These cats went extinct around 11,000 years ago
Just its fangs alone were nearly a foot long, and it would use them with such deadly precision
that prey rarely got away.
But their fangs weren't all they had to offer, they were fast, so much so that they would
not only catch up to their prey, but they would pounce on them with incredible speed
to tackle them to the ground and go in for the kill.
They would eat large elephants, rhinos, and other huge herbivores.
Despite its physical prowess, it couldn't fight nature, and during a period of time
when the Earth was going through another massive climate change, in this case called the Quaternary
Extinction, the Saber-Tooth died out.
However, due to fossils found in The La Brea Tar Pits of Los Angeles, there is potential
DNA that could be used to bring them back.
Just because we can, doesn’t mean that we should!!
These big cats could be extremely dangerous if released into the wild.
And would we be able to protect them from poachers?
Habitat loss is also a huge problem that hasn’t gone away.
Many argue that De-extinction should be a conservation strategy for animals that we
have NOW, not for animals that have been gone thousands of years.
What do you think??
Let me know in the comments below!!
7.
Baiji River Dolphin Also known as the Yangtze River Dolphin, this
dolphin is listed as critically endangered but most scientists agree that it is already
extinct.
This dolphin actually died out pretty recently, and so, scientists feel that they can bring
them back, or at least try to.
The last documented sighting was in 2002 although every so often someone claims to have seen
one jumping out of the river.
Because river dolphins are restricted to certain rivers, they are extremely vulnerable and
the Baiji dolphin was severly affected by human activity.
Fishing, hydroelectricity, poaching and habitat loss were just too much for this creature.
The dolphins were often hunted to make gloves and other clothing and got stuck in fishing
nets and drowned.
All that being said, the reasons scientists have hope is because of the more recent loss
of this species.
There might be fresh DNA that could be used to genetically engineer a river dolphin.
I’m sure you’ve seen Jurassic Park or Jurassic World by now.
Taking an extinct species genome and bringing it back to life is known as De-extinction
and we are closer to doing this than you might think!!
The technology is only feasible for species that have died within the past tens of thousands
of years and have intact cells.
So no Tyrannosaurus anytime soon but it is much more possible with species who have become
extinct more recently!
Scientists want to bring this dolphin back to life, but the harsh conditions of the river
continue and while bringing back this dolphin may be possible, it doesn’t mean that China
is ready.
6.
Woolly Rhinoceros The woolly rhinoceros went extinct about 10,000
years ago but some very well-preserved specimens have been found in the ice.
Scientists have decided to take advantage of this opportunity and bring back megafauna
from the ice age, including the Woolly Rhinoceros.
In Siberia in 2015, a baby Woolly Rhinoceros was found completely frozen in ice.
The rhino was found by a hunter named Sasha, and so the baby was named after him.
Paleontologists were thrilled that they could maybe harvest some undamaged DNA from the
tissue.
After some research, it was discovered that the baby rhino was only 3-4 years old when
it died.
It became frozen in the river, perfectly preserved.
Though scientists have known for years that the Woolly Rhinoceros once existed, including
having fossils, no one had ever found a complete specimen until Sasha showed up.
All that being said, even with Sasha's perfectly preserved body, it won't be easy to bring
this rhino back to life.
According to one scientist, to birth such an ancient animal, it would take a "suitable
mother".
Which in this case would likely be the Sumatran Rhino, which is slightly problematic because
that particular species of rhino is endangered.
Still, the potential is there, and scientists are trying to make the most of the opportunity
granted to them.
And now for number 5, but first do you think it’s a good idea to bring extinct species
back to life let me known in the comments below!
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miss out on the latest videos!!
5.
Passenger Pigeons The Passenger Pigeon may be one of the truly
tragic extinction stories, as the Passenger Pigeon was once one of the dominant bird species
in the United States.
According to the Smithsonian, there were once around 5 billion of these birds in the United
States before the settlers came.
Once settlers arrived, they started to destroy their habitat and hunt them for food and sport.
Even though they had their uses, including being messenger birds, technology advanced
past them, and then it actually consumed them, as these pigeons were hunted down by the millions
as time went on and then shipped all over the country for various purposes.
Eventually, this trend led to the bird being declared extinct in 1914, with the very last
one (in captivity) dying at the Cincinnati Zoo .
However, despite the bird being dead for over 100 years at this point, a group of scientists
are trying to bring it back.
The project itself is being called the Great Passenger Pigeon Comeback.
And it's been going on for about 6 years now.
Scientists have been manipulating the DNA of other birds to de-breed them and give modern
birds the traits of Passenger Pigeons.
They are at a disadvantage, because unlike other animal revival projects, they can't
extract DNA from the fossils or remains found at museums.
They truly have to try and reverse engineer the DNA of this bird, which is not an easy
feat.
They don't know when, or even if, they'll be able to do it, but they're trying, and
they're going to keep trying until the Passenger Pigeon lives again.
4.
The Tasmanian Tiger Also known as the Thylacine or the Tasmanian
Wolf, this animal was the largest carnivorous marsupial to live in modern times.
This creature was the Apex Predator of its ecosystem on the island off of Australia.
It would hunt all kinds of animals with lethal intent, which actually led to its downfall.
The settlers of Australia didn't like that this creature was eating their livestock,
so they would actually put bounties on its head, and many, MANY, people were happy to
take that up.
These tasmanian tigers could grow up to 6 feet long and would raise their young in a
pouch.
They were known for eating the good organs from animals such as the eyes and intestines.
The years of hunting added up, and in 1936, they were declared extinct, even though there
have been reports over the decades since saying they're still alive.
Even if there are a few left, it doesn’t mean that they are not basically extinct.
A few specimens aren’t enough to keep a species going.
Regardless of this, a group of scientists are actually working together to bring the
Thylacine back to life.
And ironically, it's Australian scientists who are trying to do it.
They have a "secret weapon" of sorts that they're hoping helps their crusade.
They actually have a baby Thylacine preserved in alcohol, since 1866.
They intend to use this pup to help build their DNA map for the Thylacine, and then
once they can make an egg for it, they're hoping to use a Tasmanian Devil mother.
While bringing this animal back might not be the best idea, animal parks and zoos are
willing to pay whatever it takes to be the first to get their hands on one of these animals
brought back to life.
3.
The Moa The Moa were flightless birds that lived in
New Zealand.
They went extinct about 700 years ago and now scientists are very close to bringing
them back!!
They were very tall birds, reaching 12 feet tall at times, and could weigh over a ton.
However, with the arrival of humans in the 13th century, they were hunted to extinction.
Now, researchers at Harvard University have assembled a nearly complete genome of the
extinct moa thanks to a single toe bone from a moa at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.
They have used a new form of DNA sequencing that could revolutionize the field of recovering
ancient DNA.
It’s not quite clear if giant birds are the best candidates for revival, but these
experiments are a game changer.
2.
Woolly Mammoth The Woolly Mammoth has been documented and
studied immensely ever since the first bones were found by modern scientists.
And so it should come as no big surprise that there are many scientists trying to bring
back this massive creature.
The woolly mammoth roamed across Europe, Asia, Africa and North America during the last ice
age and went extinct between 10,000 to 4,000 years ago.
Many samples have been found frozen in ice, with well-preserved DNA.
You’d think that it would be easy to get an intact genome from a woolly mammoth, however
viable mammoth DNA has been very difficult to get.
Harvard scientists are developing a mammoth/elephant hybrid (a mammophant) and are hoping to have
an embryo in the next 2 years.
There are many reasons why scientists want to bring them back, and one of them is simply
because of our fascination with them.
They are closely related to today’s Asian elephants but were covered with thick brown
hair to keep them warm.
They were around 13 feet (4 meters) tall and could weigh around 6 tons.
Their tusks could get up to five feet long!
But just as important as that is that there is an ecological reason to bring them back.
Scientists feel that it could restore balance to the Siberian ecosystem and The Woolly Mammoth
Revival project is trying to make this idea a reality.
As with all of these animals there is an ethical debate.
And what about habitat loss and hunting?
There aren’t many places where you can reintroduce large animals without any problems and who
is going to protect them?
Many scientists argue that we should use this technology to save animals that are disappearing
now, before bringing animals back from the dead.
1.
The Dodo Bird The Dodo Bird has always stood out amongst
extinct animals as the poster animal for human-induced extinction.
So why do we care?
This would be the best species for scientists to bring back!
The last Dodo died out about 350 years ago and it had a reputation for being fat and
stupid.
But that's revised history talking, in truth, the Dodo were wiped out by numerous things,
and their "stupidity" wasn't one of them.
In fact, not unlike the Moa, settlers to their lands were the biggest fact in their death.
These flightless birds weren’t necessarily hunted to death, but sailors brought cats,
and pigs, and rats to the Dodo's homeland.
While this may not sound bad, these invasive species brought disease and ate the Dodo's
eggs, and hunted the same food that the Dodo would eat.
When you add all of these factors, and throw in the expansion of the human settlements,
you get an extinct flightless bird.
However, many today are talking about trying to bring the legendary and infamous bird back
to life.
However, they have a massive hill to climb, because there is only one complete Dodo skeleton
in the world, and it may not have what it takes to bring the species back.
If it does though, this bird could get a second chance at life.
And it would be one of the safest species to bring back since it could be released back
to its native habitat in Mauritius in a protected area without any negative consequences.
We hope!
Thanks for watching!
Which of these creatures would you want to bring back from extinction?
Let me know in the comments below!
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