Did you know that science has now made it possible to bring back species which have become extinct. The technical name for this is “de-extinction”. Rachel Nuwer of the BBC writes: “The creation of three “dire wolf” pups has raised hopes that it may be possible to resurrect extinct animals. But some scientists have grave concerns.
When news broke that Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based biotechnology company, had resurrected three extinct dire wolves, the internet reacted with awe. It is a species that last roamed the earth some 13,000 years ago, but has found recent fame thanks to Game of Thrones, which features fictional dire wolves.”
That’s not all. The same company – Colossal – has got a pipeline of other species which are planning to make de-extinct: “…more extinct species were on the way, including the woolly mammoth, Tasmanian tiger and dodo.
Colossal – which is currently valued at $10bn (£7.6bn) and is backed by high-profile donors such as Chris Hemsworth, Paris Hilton and the CIA – boldly states on its website that it’s “going to fix” the problem of extinction.
According to Matt James, the company’s chief animal officer, the aim is not to create a Jurassic Park-like zoo full of extinct animals, but to reintroduce lost species back into the habitats they once occupied. Once those animals are settled in, Colossal expects them to exert positive change on their habitats.”
Colossal’s breakthroughs are putting conservationists in a quandry: “Chief among the concerns raised was that claiming it is possible to bring back extinct species may actually lead to more existing species being lost. It could give politicians and industries the idea that damage to the environment can be fixed by resurrecting species.”
Conservationists highlight an even more difficult dilemma: “Even if Colossal did bring back animals that very closely resembled Ice Age species, they still would not be the same as the bona fide ones that lived thousands of years ago because the Pleistocene ecosystem they inhabited no longer exists, Meachen says. “A dire wolf or any other species is not only its genes, but also its environment and all the other species living there.””
As we learnt at Marcellus a few years ago, you can’t make all the people happy all the time.
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