Out of these species, which would you bring back to Life?

What Species would you bring back from the dead?

  • Thylacine

    Votes: 15 33.3%

  • Dodo bird

    Votes: 5 11.1%

  • Passenger pigeon

    Votes: 3 6.7%

  • Great auk

    Votes: 3 6.7%

  • Steller's sea cow

    Votes: 12 26.7%

  • Baiji

    Votes: 2 4.4%

  • Bali tiger

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 5 11.1%
  • Total voters
    45
  • Poll closed .
I agree with you about the great auk. I read a book called 'The Last Great Auk'. It was very sad, especially when the last living birds were killed and someone trod on the egg.

The nature of the page is to choose a species to bring a species back to life. Out of all the species listed, the extinction of the passenger pigeon is most monstrous - it involved killing millions of individuals. I had to choose one of the species to take part. I suspect that it would take many years for 'reincarnated' passenger pigeons to ever increase to such a great extent to become pests. If they were pests, they could be controlled, as is the case of other overabundant species. Hopefully, this wouldn't cause the species to become extinct again.
 
I do know what the nature of this thread is and I do understand why you chose the passenger pigeon. I just alluded to a flaw in your argumentation.

Dassie rat said:
I suspect that it would take many years for 'reincarnated' passenger pigeons to ever increase to such a great extent to become pests. If they were pests, they could be controlled, as is the case of other overabundant species.
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Given that the sheer abundance of number aspect seemed to be a vital aspect of Passenger pigeon reproduction, you probably would have to start with a larger number to begin with. Population control programs are usually complex, staff-/time-intensive and expensive - another factor not favouring any (hypothetical) revival of the poor passenger pigeon.
 
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I thought the same as you did about the passenger pigeon needing large numbers to reproduce. I was doing some research in the ZSL Library, when I read that the species had bred in UK zoos. It was the first time I had read about this. It indicated that the species could be bred from a small founder colony. Carl Jones managed to do that with species with a very small founder population.

Please note that this poll is hypothetical. I would like all the species listed to be brought back. I have read a few books about the thylacine and I was upset by the demise of Benjamin in 1936. I have also seen the dodo display at Oxford. I still think that the whole of the decaying skin of a dodo should have preserved in some way and not just the head and a foot.

At the end of this, Zoochatters are allowed to choose one species and we are allowed to justify our choice.
 
Dassie rat said:
Carl Jones managed to do that with species with a very small founder population.
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Despite the limited random cases that you've mentioned, the general lack of success in breeding passenger pigeons in captivity (otherwise, the species would still be alive) indicates that you cannot compare it that easily with the Mauritius pink pigeon. Or in general, any species with a small founder population. The basis and the development are different in every species / population due to the diversity of relevant factors.

Dassie rat said:
Zoochatters are allowed to choose one species and we are allowed to justify our choice.
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I'm not denying you your choice; I'm just pointing out the flaws in your reasoning.
 
Dassie rat said:
I thought the same as you did about the passenger pigeon needing large numbers to reproduce. I was doing some research in the ZSL Library, when I read that the species had bred in UK zoos. It was the first time I had read about this.
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Lord Stanley, Earl of Derby, kept passenger pigeons in his private menagerie at Knowsley.

The passenger pigeons there bred so prolifically that he used to periodically liberate surplus specimens.
 
Dassie rat said:
New To be honest, I bet there are flaws in all the species listed, not least due to habitat destruction.
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Of course there are; I just mentioned some reasons why the passenger pigeon would probably not be the one with the least flaws.
 
Fair enough. The sea cow was discovered in about 1741 and hunted to extinction by about 1768. I have read that there were alleged sightings a few decades ago, but these may have been walruses extinct. The extinction of the sea cow is very sad, but I have read that the sea cow was already scarce before being seen by Steller. Of course, it should still be a extant species, but I wonder if it would thrive if it were resurrected or if it would be hunted by whalers.
 
Dassie rat said:
but I wonder if it would thrive if it were resurrected or if it would be hunted by whalers.
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Organized in a commercial breeding program, as mentioned before, I see little issues there. And the few modern whalers rather focus on whales...
 
If only that were true, Batto. If a whaling ship came near a group of Steller's sea cows, do you honestly think that the whalers would leave the group unscathed?
 
Dassie rat said:
If a whaling ship came near a group of Steller's sea cows, do you honestly think that the whalers would leave the group unscathed?
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Do you and Luke honestly think that modern whalers can kill everything crossing their ways and get away with it? If so, how come that the aforementioned walruses or elephant seals etc. are still alive? Back in the days, whalers exterminated the Steller's sea cow (and drove other species to the brink of extinction) because they needed to eat, could sell the body parts and get away with it. I wouldn't rule out that some modern whalers bend rules now and then, but stealing specimens from a controlled breeding program managed by a federal authority or a company? Rather unlikely. Modern whalers aren't a jolly bunch, but they're not pirates / vikings on a killing spree either.
 
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Batto said:
, the general lack of success in breeding passenger pigeons in captivity (otherwise, the species would still be alive) indicates that you cannot compare it that easily with the Mauritius pink pigeon.
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It was kinda the reverse actually - they bred extremely readily at the Knowsley menagerie (I believe that when Lord Stanley died and the collection auctioned off there were something like 70 passenger pigeons bred at his collection advertised) but there was little-to-no interest in anywhere taking them, given how commonplace they were in the wild at the time... and the aforementioned lack of interest due to how common they were meant there were precious few in captivity once they *did* decline.

Not sure which way I would vote in this one - possibly a three way tie between the seacow for similar reasons as those noted above, the great auk due to my strong soft spot for UK native seabirds, and the thylacine due to how taxonomically unique it was.
 
I would love to bring back from extinction the Caribbean Monk Seal. This species brings me a lot of curiosity, mostly because I haven't find any good description that could give me a mental image about how it looked like when it was alive. I would also love to bring back the Atitlan Grebe, mostly because it was the only endemic bird from my country (sadly, there are other endemics out there in serious threat, if not extinct already :()
 
Batto said:
But why not anywhere else?
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They did breed elsewhere - I know London did for instance, along with private keepers in Germany and the USA - but as noted, there just wasn't the interest in doing so given how commonplace they (seemingly) were. It would be a bit like going out of one's way to breed House Sparrow or European Starling :P

That said, both of those species are actually in decline themselves, now!
 
TeaLovingDave said:
They did breed elsewhere - I know London did for instance, along with private keepers in Germany and the USA - but as noted, there just wasn't the interest in doing so given how commonplace they (seemingly) were. It would be a bit like going out of one's way to breed House Sparrow or European Starling :p

That said, both of those species are actually in decline themselves, now!
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Part of me still can't believe the house sparrow is declining, both around uni and at home I still see them frequently... Sadly can not say the same for starlings, used to see huge flocks regularly but now almost never! Of course my experience doesn't speak for everybody but it still seems 'weird' to think of them as a declining species ;)
 
TeaLovingDave said:
there just wasn't the interest in doing so given how commonplace they (seemingly) were.
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Yet when the demand to breed them occurred, nobody was successful. You can blame that partly on overaged specimens, but I still think that breeding in a group, as demonstrated in other birds, might have been a factor for successful continous ex situ breeding as well. And I stick to my previously mentioned doubts regarding the issues the theoretical reintroduction of passenger pigeons would face in today's North America.
 
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