Should we resurrect extinct species?
Harvard says it's two years away from cloning a woolly mammoth. But maybe the question, should be, "Should we resurrect extinct species?"
"Advocates, like Vanessa Adams from the University of Queensland, hope that this resurrection will be beneficial not only for extinct species, but also for modern species and our environment. Adams studies how applying economic concepts, like bringing back an extinct animal that people would pay to see, can increase the effectiveness of on-ground conservation action, like raise money that can be used to conserve other endangered animals."But there are detractors. If we decide to bring back dinosaurs, mammoths, and dodos what will that do for animals currently on the endangered species list. Will we just forget about them because of the novelty of these "new" animals? Conservation budgets are already stretched pretty thin.
"In modeling the reintroduction of some recently extinct species, the scientists discovered that funding the conservation of just 11 focal extinct species in New Zealand could instead be used to preserve 31 species that are not yet extinct. While the idea of bringing back extinct species is exciting, that trade off simply does not make sense for our environment."So what do you think? Should we resurrect animals and stretch conservation budgets even thinner or work towards preserving the species currently inhabiting our globe? Is there are happy medium?
Jurassic park resurrected numerous extinct species that eventually adapted to their park environment, taking over the island and spreading to the suburbs. A recent article on another credible source introduced the idea of bringing back the Grizzley Bear to california, the species went extinct over a hundred years ago and can travel up to 500 miles per day in search of fertile land. These massive extant species roaming the heavily populated planet would replace animal cruelty with man versus animal warfare. The ideological view of those who want to put these species in amusement parks in order to fund conservation projects for the species we adore is absurd. A public or private entity raking in millions on a trademarked genome sequence will not expend their money to save pandas or whales. Why would they when we can clone then propagate the ocean with Megalodons?
ReplyDeleteI think that bringing back extinct animals would be beneficial to certain ecosystems. That would entail species that went extinct in the more modern eras, and not one like the woolly mammoth that died out centuries ago. As for the cost, I think every able country should contribute more than they do/already do to allow a process like this to occur without detriment to other conservation efforts.
ReplyDeleteAdvances in the biological field worldwide may have made resurrection of extinct species become a possibility. How exciting would it be to roam around the in an island filled with prehistoric animals as if you were in the movie "Jurassic Park". Indeed it is quite incredible how far science has progressed, yet the more crucial worry that should be made is whether it is ethical to let the woolly mammoth roam the earth once more. While it could prove to be such an amazing feat, the cost of doing so would drain current resources in preserving the living animals that still roam our beautiful earth. Is the trade off worth it? Absolutely not; the only reason that woolly mammoths seem to be so fascinating and interesting is simply because they aren't around anymore. If something as abundant as farm cows become extinct at this instant, wouldn't science also travel far to resurrect the common, cow. Thus, the limited resources that is already present in the field should instead be utilized by preserving the animals that are already endangered. Moreover, it is not worth resurrecting a dead animal if it risks losing more than another species. Whom is able to judge whether resurrecting the woolly mammoth will not endanger another species from being wiped out.
ReplyDeleteI think resurrecting extinct species is not a good idea. While I am up for technology advancement on the biological field, I think it will not benefit the current global system that we have. Animals such as mammoths and dinosaurs cannot live in the current ecosystem that we have right now. There is not enough control over animals as dinosaurs and they may interrupt the food chain we have right now, with an extra predator. Even if we are just resurrecting mammoths, with global warming, mammoth would not be living in an ideal environment but facing extinction soon again. Moreover, even if we do resurrect animals, the idea of resurrection will be implemented to us immediately. Whenever, animals go extinct, we can just resurrect them anytime once technology is available. People will then pay much less attention on protecting the animals and the environment, thinking that they can just resurrect anything they want. Even though I appreciate the technology of being able to resurrect animals, I believe we should use it wisely.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I am fascinated by the length scientific research has gone to be able to do things like this! Although I am not the most scientifically literate person, I think there could be some benefit in resurrecting animals. After all, ecosystems must follow a natural chain in order to be properly maintain themselves. Any major disruption to it can potentially destroy this ecosystem which is why resurrection of animals could be helpful and/or beneficial to restoring some of these ecosystems. In terms of budgets, the EPA and NPS budgets make up a very small part of the annual federal budget so I don't think it would hurt to spend a little more with regards to conservation. There also private organizations such as the Natural Resources Defense Council that would be willing to spend more towards these concerns in mind. Either way, researching the resurrection of extinct species and how they adapt to the new world or even benefit is something I believe is worth exploring. A happy medium between this research and current conservation efforts might be possible.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the prospect bringing back extinct animal species may be an appealing one in theory, doing so may create undesired circumstances and unforeseeable consequences for us. Just as it was depicted in the famous film series Jurassic Park, if we are not careful about resurrecting extinct species and securely containing them, many larger and more aggressive species could pose a huge threat to our ecosystem by dominating the food chain. Thinking from an evolutionary perspective, many of these extinct animal species became extinct due to the fact that they could not survive in their current environment. If we were to bring these species back, it could create unforeseeable consequences and irreparable damage to our ecosystem and wildlife, which could ultimately end up being greatly detrimental for us or even create more problems. Moreover, resurrecting extinct animals could also revive prehistoric bacteria, viruses and diseases that we are not capable of combating (as we most likely would not have a vaccine for them), which could be very problematic for us.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the idea of bringing back instinct animals is fascinating. I do not believe it is a proper thing to do, for me , everything happens for a reason. Extinct animals died for reasons , and if dinosaurs and mammoths are brought back who knows what will happen to our modern nature and wildlife.The consequences of bringing back a supposed dead animal are unable to see at the moment , but who knows what will happen? It could be a threat to our eco system and our other animals.Our agriculture could heavily be affected by the mammoths consume of these goods. Seeing that the mammoth is a big animal, its aggressiveness is most likely a big factor in the way they behave. Countries should be spending money on other things such as education,instead of investing on bringing back an animal that is supposed to stay dead ,back to life.
ReplyDelete"Everything happens for a reason," is a cliche but a very true saying. If applied to this theory of bringing back extinct animals to the world, we would actually be going against it. How do we know that if we bring back extinct species to the world it won't affect the environment or the species that around today? But on the other hand, how do we know if they will help? I think the opportunity to bring back extinct species, like mammoths, is amazing and the fact that technology has come that fair is incredible. However, the repercussions if things went wrong, could hurt the environment. Being so close, the consequences, good and bad, should be thoroughly thought out before putting a species, like the mammoth, back on a very different Earth than when it left. It should have been thought about it before even starting this expensive project. Money that's going towards this project could have probably gone to making sure endangered species now don't become extinct. There's pros and cons, and it should be considered.
ReplyDeleteBringing back extinct animals seems very interesting of course but we as humans need to think about the worse of the worse factors that could possibly happen. Factors such as these extinct animals not making anything on planet earth from the environment to the other animals better. These aren't very small animals and by bringing them back you can be putting the human population in much danger. Think of this project like this, the earth was totally different when the mammoth was around and has thus changed drastically. The reasons it became possibly was because of how the environment that surrounded it changed. All in all, I don't think that extinct species should be cloned.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that it is a good idea to resurrect extinct animals. These extinct animals would have to adapt to the current environment to survive and that is not going to happen overnight. The animals might not even adapt quickly and will just die which would then be a waste of money. What would be the point of bringing them back? It would be better to just focus on keeping the animals on the endangered species list alive instead of bringing back those animals that are already extinct.
ReplyDeleteThis article is very interesting and very controversial. Being able to bring back extinct animals from the past to the present seems like a very dangerous move. First off, we do not know how they will interact with this new environment and climate. Our climate has changed so drastically, that the reason for having fur is to keep themselves warm, in the ice stage. They became extinct for a reason. The people behind this idea sound like they are in it for the money. Adam says "like bringing back an extinct animal that people would pay to see", which sounds like these animals will be put in a zoo and not let them live freely. Why bring back an animal which can't live freely among themselves? I do not agree with the people behind this idea because due to the fact that we do not know the outcomes, if this were to happen.I feel they should focus more on the animals which are close to becoming extinct and help preserve the species that are already among us.
ReplyDeleteIt’s actually really cool that scientists are close to being able to resurrect extinct animals. The fact that maybe five years from now, a real life dinosaur could be roaming around in the wilderness (although I doubt scientists would ever let their “pet” roam free) is really scary. However, the only good thing that I see coming out of resurrecting extinct animals is the fact that such animals would inspire awe and maybe become a tourist attraction. These resurrections will definitely consume a lot of resources, resources that should instead be allocated to preserving the habitats of currently endangered species. If there was an overabundance of resources available, enough to resurrect these animals and help currently endangered species, then these resurrections should definitely take place. However, conservation resources are almost sapped dry and the last thing we need is to stretch those funds even further with resurrection “science experiments.”
ReplyDeleteBringing back the dead, can in no way do good to anyone. We, humans have always tried to change nature and the time line that regulates it. There is a deep philosophy perspective to this question of bringing back dead species to life. The first generation of species are really missed but now that they are extinct we should stop trying to bring them back to life.
ReplyDeleteImagine yourself waking up to the sun shining on your face on a Sunday. You get off your bed and go switch on the TV to watch some news and what do you see? Fox news showing some news about the white house being under attack by a t-rex Or Godzilla getting back on the streets of Tokyo and being a cause of mass destruction. Thinking it practically, bringing back the extinct would endanger the present line of species. Researchers claim the present line of species to have evolved from the extinct. Therefore, we should try creating a new line of species by studying their DNA and not necessarily the extinct.
Secondly, thinking about this financially recreating the extinct would cost billions of dollars that could be used at better things.
To conclude, I think the idea of recreating the extinct is not really practical and should not be funded for.
After reading, and also viewing the video I understand that the scientists want to achieve the goal of bringing back an extinct animal such as the mammoth. I think it would be pretty cool to bring back an extinct animal, but what if something goes wrong with the animal. Something that could go wrong with the animal would probably be if he comes out deformed or not what was expected. Are we really prepared to understand what the resurrection of the mammoth will mean. How much do they eat? or what would they want to eat? maybe they would not be accustomed to the environments that we have. Could the resurrection in extinct animals impact other animals? I believe the idea can be cool, but it would be best to wait and make sure everything can go as planned and also to understand where they would leave the animal, because if they want to resurrect the animal just to place it in back of a cage, then i definitely disagree. They should be able to live freely and to never face danger. I believe if there is a one of a kind, it could be dangerous because everyone will want to see the resurrected mammoth.
ReplyDeleteI do not think it is a good idea to clone extinct animals. What about the animals that are at risk to going extinct now? I doubt the scientists would want to make "new" animals just like them too. Also, cloning woolly mammoths, dinosaurs, and dodos would cost a lot of money. And what about the environment? Would they survive with the type of environment we have now? I do say it is really cool that it can be possible with the technology we have now, but there are some obstacles.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of being able to clone an animal back from extinction seems neat. Though it would awesome to be a part of something that big, we should maybe hold off on the cloning until we can somehow find a solution to out problem so that it won't happen again in the future, or find ways to prevent it. Also, before we even begin to consider doing this cloning process, we would have to take into consideration what the new animals would need from us and how we would manage the current animals with the "new" animals. We would have a lot to think about before we can even begin to consider this. Great, exciting idea, needs a bit more reviewing!
ReplyDeleteI think that bringing back extinct animals for certain animals such as animals that humans caused the extinction that could possibly survive would be a good idea.But only after extensive research goes in to show that this would cause a large change to ecosystems. I think bringing back extinct animals that have already died off due to non human causes such as Dinosaurs should not be brought back even though many would be interested and may be profitable it wouldn't be smart or ethical to do so.
ReplyDeleteHelping the animals that are currently endangered and leading towards extinction should be the main priority over animals that are already extinct. On top of that what would would we do with this animals, lock them up in cages and make them suffer or put them in the wild and change how the whole ecosystem works? Bringing animals back is not worth the risks or what will happen when they are actually back. Before we create Jurassic Park we must do things like save the bees.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with the second quote, "While the idea of bringing back extinct species is exciting, that trade off simply does not make sense for our environment." It seems to me that bringing back the extinct animals is pretty pointless, it might be a cool thing and also a great accomplishment but what do we do to them when they come back to the world? Do we just let them be? The environment has its rules, they didn't just became extinct for no reason. So bringing those species back would not be anything good. And if they are brought back in the world, human will definitely start using them to get money or find ways to hurt them just like we are doing now.
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ReplyDeleteBringing extinct animals back to life is not necessary. This article was quite interesting because I did not know that scientists were even attempting this. Although, I admit that it would be amazing to see some of the animals that roamed the world before us, I feel that it could create safety issues as well. For example, many of us would love to see a dinosaur, but would we really want to possibly endanger our lives to bring back something that we have never seen? There are animals currently that are close to extinction. We need to focus on these animals rather than attempting to revive animals that are already gone. I feel that there are so many other problems involving the environment, and almost extinct animals. Cloning a mammoth (cloning anything) honestly seems weird and unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteIF we do bring back extinct animals to modern time it will cause a lot of new problem that we do not need. It would be very interesting to see dinosaurs and other extinct animals, however they are extinct for a reason. I like how the author brought up the point that if we do bring back extinct animals we would forget about our modern day animals and the would eventually go extinct.
ReplyDeleteI do not think it is essential to bring back extinct animals because we already have enough animals in the world to take care of. Although it would be fun to actually see them in person such as dinosaurs or woolly mammoths. I feel like if we were to bring back dinosaurs, it would create a lot of problems for our civilization and endanger mankind. I think it would be more beneficial for us to work towards preserving the species we have now such as cows because our country actually relies on cows a lot more than we think.
ReplyDeleteI think that resurrecting extinct or almost extinct animals can some how restore the eco- system and lead to possible discoveries to undo global warming. If we do recreate these animals we would require a lot for space for their habitats. Resurrecting them animals with so many modern advancements would cause these already extinct animals to rediscover where they fit into the new world. However, if the humans have already over populated and continue to over populate, what room do we have on planet Earth for these recreated animals and current animals?
ReplyDeleteI do not think we should bring back extinct animals. For one, they became instinct for a reason. If we resurrect certain animals, such as mammoths, they would not be able to survive in today's conditions, especially because of global warming and the constant change that is occurring on the environment. Mammoths would not be able to survive in today's environment, as they would not be getting their essentials, such as food, environment, space, free space. And to add on, those animals will be seen as exhibits. People will be paying to see these animals. These animals will be caged up their whole lives. What is the point of that? They are better dead in my opinion. It would be nice to see extinct animals coming back to life; however, we should be focusing on these animals that are almost extinct. They should be the priority at this point, like polar bears. We still have time to prevent animals like polar bears from getting extinct, so why not focus on something that we can still fix, instead of going back in time and recreating animals that would not be able to live in today's environment.
ReplyDeleteIf we decide to resurrect extinct animals it could spell disaster. Of course technology will continue to evolve over the years go by but does that mean we should just do things because we are able to? If we resurrect Mammoths it would cost millions of dollars to keep them from going extinct again probably. In addition, Mammoths died off due to the environment changing. So will they even be suited to survive this current climate? Finally, what would be the purpose of bringing these species back. It would be reasonable to revive extinct animals if there was a specific purpose behind it, not just bringing back animals that lived millions of years ago just because it is possible.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there may be some benefits to "resurrecting" extinct animals, I do believe the cons heavily outweigh the pros. Ethically, I do not think we should bring these species back just because of the mere fact that we can.
ReplyDeleteThroughout my educational career, primarily surrounding the sciences, I've learned that the simplest adjustment in ecosystem environments has the potential to completely tip the scale. For instance, in marine ecosystems, specifically kelp forests, an absence of sea otters due to human inflicted reasons causes an overabundance of sea urchins. These urchins then overindulge on kelp and eventually cause the destruction of the entire ecosystem and everything in it. So I must ask you, at what cost are we going to tip the scale and bring back extinct species? Perhaps at the cost of Dolphins? Rhinos? Giraffes? Who are we to play God and decide who lives and who dies? In my opinion, we should let dead things lie... literally.
I don't think we should resurrect extinct animals. It is unnatural and unnecessary. A question I do have, is do cloned mammals have defective offspring? If so, why would we bring back an extinct species for them to reproduce an animal that might suffer? Therefore, I don't see how it would benefit the world to bring back mammoths, considering we are doing just fine without them.
ReplyDeleteI think resurrecting extinct animals has its negatives and positives. Resurrecting ancient animals such as dinosaurs would be a horrible idea because the ecosystem has been adapted to the modern-day creature, therefore ancient creatures would have a huge negative impact on the ecosystem. However, resurrecting creatures such as the Thylacine would be a great idea because it hasnt been extinct for too long, therefore its impact on the ecosystem wouldnt be to huge.
ReplyDeleteGurkaran Randhawa, English 126, Dore Ripley