Clarissa Johal: Thoughtful Thursday-Bringing Back Extinct Species

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Thoughtful Thursday-Bringing Back Extinct Species

Photo courtesy of Flying Puffin via Flickr
I read a news story over the weekend. It said that due to a remarkable discovery last summer, scientists have enough blood and bone to clone a woolly mammoth.  Do you hear the Jurassic Park theme song playing yet?  ♪♫  ♪♫ It was playing pretty loudly in my head when I read that--and we all know what happened to those guys. Just because we can, doesn't mean we should.
My first thought was that bringing back a species which has become extinct may not be the right thing to do. I would support bringing back extinct species such as the Tasmanian tiger and Passenger Pigeon, but not a woolly mammoth. Why? I don't know, maybe it's the time factor thing. Extinct species from the 20th century, yes. Species from the Pleistocene epoch of the Cenozoic Era? Maybe not. My first thought was, where would it live? In a zoo? It would be the only one of it's kind (unless they cloned two) and treated as quite the spectacle. On the other hand, if we're directly responsible for the extinction of a species, are we obligated to right our wrongs? Possibly. But where does it end? Once scientists manage to pull off such a feat, the sky's the limit. It's human nature to push science as far as it can go. If we find a preserved body of a Neanderthal, do we try and bring them back as well? What then? That would be quite an ethical consideration. I can't help think that until we manage to take care of all species on earth, including our own, bringing back extinct animals may be something we need to give more thought.

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