Ten extinct beasts that could walk the Earth again

www.newscientist.com...

Sabre Tooth Tiger - Neanderthal - Short-faced bear - Tasmanian tiger - Glyptodon - Woolly rhinoceros - Dodo - Giant ground sloth - Moa - Irish elk - Giant beaver -

That's 11 unless I have lost the ability to count and then they include the following:

Gorilla
(Gorilla gorilla)

Extinct: Almost
DNA preservation: 5/5
Suitable surrogate: 5/5

The first species to be brought back from extinction will most likely be one that is alive today. Conservationists are freezing tissue samples from some threatened species, so clones could be created with the help of a closely related surrogate species if a suitable habitat becomes available. For gorillas, the surrogate would be the chimpanzee.

But then if you only 'make' 1 or 2 then the gene pool is going to be very weak.

Why would they want the Neanderthal to walk the Earth again?

Honestly, what are they going to do- keep them in a zoo or make them work the mines or teach them religion?

Originally posted by star in a jar
Why would they want the Neanderthal to walk the Earth again?

Honestly, what are they going to do- keep them in a zoo or make them work the mines or teach them religion?

More likely they would end up in a lab somewhere. I don't agree with cloning species that natural selection did away with but I do see the gorilla being a good idea.

Exactly there is no real reason I can think of to bring any of these back as they would just be kept in zoo's or for experimentation.

Even if they were brought back for another reason I'm sure they would be expolited for food or something.

Especially Neanderthal's as they would probably be used as slaves or worse.

[edit on 23-6-2009 by johnb]

I'll start the bidding at Tree Fiddy for a Neanderthal slave!


Talk aboout putting idea's in people's head!

Bringing 'em back is less of a problem than keeping them alive...the theory is willing but the tech is weak

Late last year we resurrected the extinct Pyrennean Ibex.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2778d758e926.jpg[/atsimg]

The Pyrenean ibex, a form of wild mountain goat, was officially declared extinct in 2000 when the last-known animal of its kind was found dead in northern Spain. Shortly before its death, scientists preserved skin samples of the goat, a subspecies of the Spanish ibex that live in mountain ranges across the country, in liquid nitrogen. Using DNA taken from these skin samples, the scientists were able to replace the genetic material in eggs from domestic goats, to clone a female Pyrenean ibex, or bucardo as they are known. It is the first time an extinct animal has been cloned.

Extinct ibex is resurrected by cloning

The little fella lasted for 7 minutes due to breathing difficulties. It seems our technology still answers to Nature. We can theoretically bring extinct critters back to life without having the tech to keep them alive or provide mates...

scientists still face considerable hurdles before bringing an extinct species back into the wild is anything more than a conservation pipe dream. Firstly, even if the cloned female ibex had lived, she would have had no males to breed with. On top of this, there are other questions about resurrecting extinct species: can enough genetic diversity be created in cloned individuals?

Extinct Ibex Resurrected by Cloning… then Goes Extinct Again

Since when are Neanderthals "beasts"?

Originally posted by exile1981

More likely they would end up in a lab somewhere. I don't agree with cloning species that natural selection did away with but I do see the gorilla being a good idea.

I can't agree that natural selection did away with many of those creatures, no one can really tell how long we've been wiping species of this planet and I'm certain we weren't naturally selected to 'Do away with'.

Speaking for myself, I have no issues of conscience regarding the reviving of most extinct life forms. When we speak of nature 'choosing' to see them extinguished, we are acting as if nature was a sentient, benevolent zoo keeper that somehow acted on someone's behalf by killing them off to begin with.

The premise of 'natural selection' also makes a leap by suggesting that mere random chance is smart enough not to be questioned.

So what if we someday manage to clone a dinosaur? It hardly compares to what we are doing in bug labs today.

As for the Neanderthal? That's a little different because you almost have to make one to understand exactly how it fits into the grand scheme. Is it smart enough to be considered human? Or is it just far enough distant to make it comfortable for us to 'use' them as we do other critters... for lab experiments, etc.?

In fact, how we handle a group of reborn Neanderthals might play well as a preview of how we are viewed by an advanced species of ET.

That in itself would be enough to justify the experiment... IF we were smart enough to learn anything from it.

...

The Neanderthals will just end up in a "Geico" insurance commercial!

[edit on 23-6-2009 by IntelRetard]

reply to post by star in a jar


I think that Neandertals would be great car insurance salesman. Just ask Geico.

Maybe they could do museum tours or something?

While it may not be a worthwhile endeavor currently, it would be a much needed step towards understanding how DNA carries the coding of life.

reply to post by johnb


Well, keep in mind that at least for the more recent species in these groups, there are still empty ecological niches.

Wooly mammoths undoubtedly had a key part in the ecosystems in which they lived - hell, the modern elephant is basically a walking, breathing ecosystem all in itself, I can only imagine what the wooly played in the taiga and tundra.

There are plants still alive that apparently depended on the Moa and Dodo for seed dispersal. Reintroducing these birds could help bring those plants, and other species relying on them, back from the brink.

The thylacine's ecological role has largely been co-opted by the dingo on mainland australia, but only feral dogs would be competitive in Tasmania or Papua. And nobody wants feral dogs running around.

Similar story with the glyptodont - It's probably had its role filled by feral goats. However, the giant ground sloth currently has nothing that would replace it - and given their recent extinction, there's no telling what kind of ecosystems are still around for which a gigantic browser was integral.

About the most useless ones on that list would be the Neanderthal (their ecological role is occupied, to say the least, and to say nothing of the moral concerns of a manufactured human).

Personally I think that instead of flapping our hands over the idea of re-creating megatherium or the woolly mammoth, we should use this technology to bring back or preserve species extinct within the last century. There's no doubt that the woolly rhino died out because of the end of the ice age, while there are numerous other critters clearly rendered extinct by human idiocy.

Hell. Bring bad the atlas bear, I'd rather see that sucker than the short-faced bear.

reply to post by redoubt

As for the Neanderthal? That's a little different because you almost have to make one to understand exactly how it fits into the grand scheme. Is it smart enough to be considered human? Or is it just far enough distant to make it comfortable for us to 'use' them as we do other critters... for lab experiments, etc.?

As if "we" were not using "us" in the scientific labs?
Come on...

The Aurochs would be a very cool species to bring back. Too bad that the Heck cattle turned out to be a seemingly dead end to breed back to the Aurochs.

Forgot to read the article sry :\

[edit on 6/24/2009 by Shoomoo]

Originally posted by star in a jar

or teach them religion?

HAHAHAHA Easily the funniest thing i've read/seen this week. True stories, are the best comedy.

Altho i think it would be very interesting to see mammuths and what not to wander around i also think that the impact on the environment would be far to great...
We already see it now with animals being put where they dont belong..

Our ancestors would naturally take precedent. Then we would have no choice about moving off world.

Bring back the T-Rex and throw it in the Bilderberg headquarters!!!

Originally posted by stevcolx
Bring back the T-Rex and throw it in the Bilderberg headquarters!!!

Nah I say bring back about 4 or 5 nice sized raptors and throw them in there. Same bang with more rapid results.