Tasmanian Tiger Genome May Be First Step Toward De-Extinction

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/12/thylacine-genome-extinct-tasmanian-tiger-cloning-science/

 

Basically we're getting tantalizingly close to our first de-extinction. The end goal would be de-extinction of Mammoths (Dinos are way too far back sadly, and most of the DNA would be gone by now)

 

The newly sequenced genetic blueprint may help scientists clone the predatory marsupial, which was declared extinct in the 1980s.

 

Main force behind this movement is Mike Archer, a paleontologist and expert on de-extinction at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, led a pioneering project that explored thylacine cloning in the early 2000s, and in 2013, his team succeeded in cloning embryos of another extinct species, the gastric brooding frog. 

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

What does this actually accomplish, though? This is billions of dollars that could be used to actually help people. Thylocines are cool and all, but bringing them back, let alone animals that went extinct naturally, such as the mammoth, won't do anything to make the world a substantially better place.

[VCR_CAT]

Bringing it back means that either it can't actually live outside of a controlled environment because they aren't suited for the climate of the modren era, or it means that bringing it back, releasing it in the wild with the ability to reproduce, is just an invasive species that goes on to damage the eco-systems we already have.

 

Why do we want to do this?

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

What does this actually accomplish, though? This is billions of dollars that could be used to actually help people. Thylocines are cool and all, but bringing them back, let alone animals that went extinct naturally, such as the mammoth, won't do anything to make the world a substantially better place.

1) we actually eradicate the Tasmanian Tiger, I'd say we have a debt to repay there

 

2) mammoth would revitalize the Siberian ecosystem. There are a number of papers that note the effects of herds breaking frostlayers and prolonging green seasons

 

3) why protect any animal if furthering humanity is our main goal

Bringing it back means that either it can't actually live outside of a controlled environment because they aren't suited for the climate of the modren era, or it means that bringing it back, releasing it in the wild with the ability to reproduce, is just an invasive species that goes on to damage the eco-systems we already have.

 

Why do we want to do this?

Read it again, they note the Tiger's environment still exists

 

As would a mammoth's

[Dova]

Knowing we can do this is a factor in "fixing" nature, and there is the argument that if we leave it too long we may be too late, but you do actually have to balance it with the fact these time and resources could actually be used for directly benefiting civilisation as a whole right now, and creating a sustainable environment for this creatures to be reintroduced to without even more money being spent in keeping them in our current less fitting one.

[SkaterTheDJWolf]

Seems pretty interesting, with lots of potential. Then again, it's science. There's a right way and wrong way to do it. This should be used to help ecosystems by introducing species that will rebalance it, not because it's SCIENCE YAY.

 

Although I do agree with Dova and the others, is this what our glorious nation spends money on as opposed to stuff that actually helps people?