Extinction No More!!!

Well, Pyrenean Ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica) is one of the two extinct subspecies of Spanish Ibex.
 
Why...?
Let's open Jurassic park while we're at it :rolleyes:
 
Thats fascinating! however they can only produce females as there are no preserved males! Id love to see tazmanian tigers cloned!
 
Personally, this creeped me out a little bit. Yes, it's fantastic that science has gotten this far and *could* be useful for species already alive but...we're having a hard enough time trying to keep species that did not go extinct alive. We don't need Jurassic Park complicating that.
 
Great news! Just the other day I was thinking of so many practical uses in conservation for cloning - I can't wait to see how this branch of science progresses.
 
Why don't they use it on endangered species then, not ones that already died out?
 
From an economical, ethical and environmental point of view, it is better to allow endangered species to reproduce rather than clone them. Having said that, I think a gaur was cloned a few years ago, making it the first cloned endangered animal. The difficulties in cloning and the number of things which can go wrong currently make it impractical as a method of keeping endangered species around; I think that almost all clones of endangered/extinct animals haven't survived more than a few days after birth.
Besides, who wouldn't pay to see a 5 metre tall mammoth?
 
Which do you all think might be cheaper:

-clone a dead animal whose genetics are not well represented in captivity

or

-import a new founder
 
okapikpr said:
Which do you all think might be cheaper:

-clone a dead animal whose genetics are not well represented in captivity

or

-import a new founder
Click to expand...

Good question.

I imagine importing a new founder would probably be cheaper (financially). But for the survival of a critically endangered species, cloning a recently deceased individual whose genes are under-represented in the gene pool could be extremely beneficial.

:)

Hix
 
taking semen or eggs from an under represented animal and using them in the future would be a better soloution to cloning. I think that cloning should be kept to extinct animals because if it messes up and the species dies out again it really makes no difference however if a genetically screwed up animal enters into a gentically healthy population God knows what the complications could be. Cloning could make us complacent about endangered animals. "Oh if it goes extinct it doesnt matter we can clone it again" I am rather excited to see how this technology advances in the future, I for one will be first in the que to see a mammoth!
 
nayer mentioned several important points why the cloning of animals isn't the easy solution to rescind extermination/extinction as some seem to think.

No matter whether it is a sheep, a sand cat or a gaur: the loss rate is very high and the clones often seem to have a reduced immune system, resulting in constant ailing of problems which "normal" animals usually have no problems with.

Although some clones exhibit immediately "normal" behaviour, it is questionable how a formerly extinct animal should learn its full pattern of behaviour-as there are no parents or others of its species around to teach/countereact. So how should a cloned Thylacine learn to behave like a real Thylacine-ergo hunt, reproduce...etc?

The cost/benefit ratio isn't the most optimal, either.
Personally, I think the money is better invested in the protection of still existing species and their habitats.

5m mammoth? So we would have to stretch the wooly mammoth-or get a very tall Columbian one? ;)
 
okapikpr said:
Which do you all think might be cheaper:

-clone a dead animal whose genetics are not well represented in captivity

or

-import a new founder
Click to expand...

In terms of acquiring a healthy specimen, importing a new founder is currently the only option: as an organism ages, so does the material inside the nucleus of cells (gathering mutations and altering genetic data) - cloning currently involves taking a single adult nucleus and implanting it into the egg of a similar species and letting it develop in the uterus like a normal foetus. The tests for compatability between species are important, as well as the fact that any offspring are going to start life with aged genetic material; this compromises their genetic value. Even if cloning had progressed enough to obtain completely healthy specimens, it would still be a lot more expensive than retrieving a new animal. But of course both situations raise ethical dilemmas on top of practicality and cost.

Sun Wukong said:
5m mammoth? So we would have to stretch the wooly mammoth-or get a very tall Columbian one? ;)
Click to expand...

I thought the Imperial mammoth and Songhua river mammoth could even exceed five metres
 
nayer said:
I thought the Imperial mammoth and Songhua river mammoth could even exceed five metres
Click to expand...
I just did a quick google search and came up with various shoulder heights of the Imperial mammoth (Mammuthus imperator) -- which apparently not all people accept as a valid species btw -- including 3.9 metres, 4.3 metres and 4.9 metres. I have no idea on which is/are correct.
 
From what I read and heard so far, most data seems to indicate a max height of less than 5m for the Imperial Mammoth-but who knows whether a bigger specimen might not be discovered in the future. Good point regarding the Songhua river mammoth, @nayer-I always thought it was smaller than 5m, but the Ibaraki Nature Museum seems to prove me wrong. ;)

There is one aspect Colin Tudge mentioned long ago which I think is quite reasonable when it comes to conservation and cloning: to have clones as kind of a "backup copy" for very limited populations. Let's say that due to an unfortunate event, one or several specimens of the already tiny population die. All hope is lost! But wait: smart as we were, we collected enough material to clone them, before death took the originals from us, and kept these clones so that we can now still be able to breed with them.

Maybe Leipzig is secretly aiming to get a Sumatra rhino clone for their Gondwana Hall..lol
 
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