Get ready for the rebirth of vanished species

[Chris Merkord]

The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) (Credit: denisk0 via iStock)

Scientists are getting close to bringing species back from extinction. It creates a whole new set of questions

 

Around the world, de-extinction initiatives [...] are racing to resurrect genomes and living specimens of recently extinct and even long-dead species. In Spain, scientists continue trying to bring back the Pyrenean ibex, a species extinct since 2000 that was briefly resurrected in 2009. (The baby ibex, born to a domestic goat, lived for a few minutes before dying.) In South Korea, the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation is working with Russian scientists and the Beijing Genomics Institute to attempt to clone a woolly mammoth. Scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz are sequencing the genome of the passenger pigeon — last living on earth in 1914. The Caribbean monk seal, Carolina parakeet and Tasmanian tiger have all been suggested for resurrection by the Revive and Restore Foundation, a new non-profit whose purpose is to bring extinct species back to life.

 

Read more: http://www.salon.com/2013/09/01/get_ready_for_the_rebirth_of_vanished_species/