Revival of long extinct dinosaurs or mammoth elephants is no longer confined to fiction or Hollywood movies
By Kiran N. Kumar
The Greenback cutthroat trout, Colorado’s state fish, considered nearly extinct since the 1930s, had been bought back to life by biologists from Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), after more than a decade of “intensive” efforts.
The naturally reproducing sub-species of the fish were found in 1957, 1965, and the 1970s, but they weren’t pure-bred trout, and the team had to wait until the pure population of the species was discovered in 2012, near Bear Creek, central Colorado.
The biologists began making the trek there every spring to collect sperm and egg samples from the population of fish in the area.
Read: De-extinction? Plans to revive Tasmanian tiger triggers debate (August 20, 2022)
“The long-term survival and natural reproduction of the greenbacks discovered is a major milestone for our recovery efforts and a huge win for conservation,” the CPW said.
Soon, they implemented the species in several places, including the Herman Gulch in 2016 and now, six years later, the fish population has been recorded thriving without their help. Josh Nehring, CPW’s assistant aquatic section manager, said the reproduction of the species was “truly monumental.”
De-extinction or back to the Jurassic era?
The Tasmanian tiger (thylacine), a carnivorous dog-like marsupial with stripes was another species of the family Thylacinidae in Australia that was extinct since the 1930s.
A few weeks ago, a biotech and genetic engineering startup – Colossal Biosciences – announced plans to “de-extinct” the Tasmanian tiger using gene-editing technology.
The genome sequenced from DNA recovered from a 108-year-old specimen kept at Australia’s Victoria Museum, has made researchers led by Prof. Andrew Pask at the Thylacine Integrated Genetic Restoration Research (TIGRR) Lab and professor of epigenetics biosciences at the University of Melbourne to revive the species.
Read: One hour after death, life restored in dead pig’s tissues (August 4, 2022)
However, concerns abound over the revival of extinct species back to life in an environment that was vastly different from the time when they existed and wandered on the green earth freely bereft of the present-day urban limitations.
A “De-extinction Task Force,” set up in 2014 under the Species Survival Commission (SSC), has been drafting a set of Guiding Principles on Creating Proxies of Extinct Species for Conservation Benefit to enable the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the feasibility of creating a proxy of an extinct species.
Pask and the biotech firm Colossal insist that the Tasmanian tiger’s return would enforce rebalance in Australia’s ecosystem.
“Without an apex predator, ecosystems plunge into a series of cascading trophic downgrading effects, leading to the spread of disease, an increase in wildfires and invasive species, a reduction in carbon sequestration, and a disruption to natural biogeochemical cycles,” said the startup.
While dinosaurs or mammoth elephants remain on top of the list of extinct animals, their revival is no longer confined to fiction or Hollywood movies.
In March 2014, the Russian Association of Medical Anthropologists recovered blood from a frozen mammoth carcass to help clone the woolly mammoth.
Read: Species ‘Extinct’ for Nearly 100 Years Bought Back to Life in Colorado (September 28, 2022)
Another team led by Harvard geneticist George Church has made changes in the elephant genome itself to make it cold-resistant with an extra layer of fat.
Church and his team insist that the positive effects of bringing back the extinct woolly mammoth would reverse some of the damage caused by global warming.
The gigantic mammoths would eat the dead grass allowing the sun to reach the spring grass and that their trait of felling trees would increase the absorption of sunlight, they argue.
20 Comments
I think it’s awesome and hope I live long enough to see a dinosaur come to life. It would seem like total magic to our ancestors. I don’t assume they would be put out into the wild, but taken care of on a reservation. We could do it responsibly. I think it says a lot that the cia is investing for natl security sake, this could open the doors to so many developments. We could be brought back to life, at least a version of us.
Its certainly an interesring thought of bringing certain species thst have been extinct for 100 years or even longer, but one question comes to mind. What are the repercussions that are thus created by human beings messing around with evolution? These animals that once roamed the Earth, but as is today could this not be an experiment gone wrong situation? What do we do if per say, we bring back t rex in about the 100 count and they go on a rampage killing thousands of people or who knows maybe more before we had enough of that and gun them all dead, extinct again. So what would be the lesson here? I’d say dont mesd with mother nsture because her sister karma is a nasty one and certainly not worth doing the tango without serious negative consequences. Perhaps looking into extinct species that certainly do not have serious negative consequences attract more of an interest to the people of the region they will be placed into might best be on the top any list and if all goes well stay with that I suggest. I dont wish to be on any menu of a extinct animal brought back to life. We have enough creatures right now that can take out a human being as it is we dont need anymore. Take it how you want to, but I think the whole idea can be worth value to our own existence depending on the species. But introduce something back that wi do possibly more harm than good, just plain dumbass logic, my opinion. But hey only those who make the genetic foul up are going to suffer the price should that species sh!t hit the fan, figuratively speaking, and thats only if it only goes so far into disaster mode. Well its been interesting nonetheless on the green back trout thats at least one positive story with positive outcome so why dont you keep with those stories ,seems best to me . Thanks for allowing my comments. Hope I didnt offend anyone with any comment made, but these are my opinions. Dont take them personally, I certainly wouldnt.
It’s truly a remarkable reach for science and those who love it none the least I feel that things are extinct are that way for a reason such a dinosaurs if they were around the carnivorous species would likely have a Jurassic Park come to life. Humans shouldn’t play God regardless of if we have the ability to. The last sentence misspelled falling put felling tree in case you aren’t aware.
When men tamper with the ecological balance created by natural selection, disaster can’t be far behind.
So we’re planting trees for mammoths to destroy whilst our existing elephants are dying from urban invasion, poaching and lack of food.
How does that help anyone?
Scientists get too tied up in the wonders of new science and don’t always look at the whole picture.
How do they know mammoths eat only dead grass?
Sorry,this world is not fit for creatures from the past .I believe this production is nothing but insanity,the way money is being spent when the planet is dying .
Mess with God’s work,I really think you should consider on the extinction of wildlife,Maybe man or Maybe God’s work of extinction,Leave it a long,Your not God!!
Why not bring back (1) the Carolina Paraqueet (2) Neanderthal man?
IF THEY PLAY GOD THEY BETTER BE READY TO MEET GOD ~
That’s a fucking trout
Whoa I think you guys are way out there and putting global warming in the context is just like where’s the fact checkers when you need them or are you just high I guess I mean do you sit around and make this stuff up because just wearing hip boots makes me think of you
The extinct species were made that way by us
The most absurd thing I’ve read in quite some time. De extinct to fight global warming?!? You can’t play God. These people are idiots.
I really don’t agree with the argument that a regenerated species ie thylacine would be out of place today as opposed to 90 or 100 years ago.
It’s like children. People say ‘ what sort of a world are our kids going to be born into ‘. They adapt to the world from the minute they are born and there will be no need to worry about them at all. Same with the Tiger but, notwithstanding the above, it would want to be put in a place where it’s not going to cause damage, ie SW Tasmania or certain places in NW or NE Tasmania. Just like the fish was put back into its natural habitat.
This is exciting stuff that I hope happens in my lifetime. Perhaps if it does, it would lead the way towards efforts to be extinct the carrier pigeon or even the ivory billed woodpecker. It would be wonderful to see even more of those that have left us, seemingly, forever.
Extinctions of animals can be prevented by creating paid job’s for University Graduates to collect specimens, and create artificial environments for them to thrive, them modify wild areas for them to multiply!
Man killed off the woolmamith not global warming,
This is a very bad idea! Upsetting the balance of nature.
What gives humans the right to fuck about with mother nature when our ideas and efforts to make life on earth easier and more comfortable have so far produced negative results. Plastic was meant to be a product that would revolutionise all sorts of things from consumer goods to packaging materials. Where has this wonder product, as was thought of at the time it was invented, brought us? It is an extremely hard and damaging product to break down, is a killer of wildlife and is now in our bodies FFS. By all means create a Wooly Mammoth to roam the tundra and improve the biodiversity of the region but it will not stop the permafrost from releasing the methane gas into the atmosphere so increasing global warming. The road to hell is paved with good intentions so it’s said and this is would be one of them. How about using the $1,000,000,000,000 the States sets aside for the military to be used to finding better ways speed up the transformation from fossil fuels to greener energies? I can’t bear the thought that I am living in the age where mankind has set in motion another mass extinction of life. What future does anybodies progeny have with the events of today? Yet humans are breeding like there is plenty of room for them on earth and if not then we can always set up shop on that other habitable planet that is going to be found anytime soon, so won’t matter if I have a family of 4,7 even double figures cos when they are old enough to work they can make life easier with the money that they can provide. In the meantime, to hell with the burden of squeezing them onto an already overpopulated world. Pity mankind. Mankind, now there’s a contradiction in terms if ever there was one. Makes me feel fucking sick. Rant over.
I wonder if humans are trying to play God way to much, the animals that went extinct without mans help should most likely stay that way. If you revised the life of a megalodon it would kill our oceans natural habitat and the creatures that live their. Think of all the ways man has helped introductions of foreign species to different parts of the world to invade and kill off other animals. Quit playing God please.