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Scientists look to de-extinction 24 different animals

Tuesday, August 6, 2013, 2:31 PM -

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to have extinct animals walk the earth again? The idea of bringing extinct animals back to life has been very long-lived. And although scientists have already attempted such a feat only to be unsuccessful, this may soon change. 

A team of Spanish and French scientists were the first to test out if de-extinction was possible. There experiment involved trying to revive the Pyrenean ibex, or the Bucardo as more commonly known to people in Spain. Nuclei from the creature was extracted by reproductive physiologists and injected into goat eggs that were emptied of their own DNA. These eggs were then planted into fifty-seven surrogate mothers with only seven becoming pregnant. From those seven only one survived. And on July 30, 2003, the first extinct animal re-entered the world. This excited scientists enormously since nothing of the sort had ever been done before. Unfortunately, the clone was unable to survive and only lived for about 10 minutes following its birth. Needless to say, this was a huge step in the world of science. 

But science has made it a long way since this time. Scientists want to take another shot at de-extinction and are quite sure it will be done successfully. After a TEDx conference on de-extinction at the National Geographic Society last May, scientists are confident in being able to bring back a number of extinct animals. To learn more about de-extinction, watch the TEDx video below.

Together scientists have comprised a list of 24 animals they set to de-extinct. These animals include:

1) The Carolina Parakeet— the only parrot species native to the eastern United States. The last one found in the wild died in 1904.

2) Cuban Macaw— this bird lived in Cuba and was the last species of Caribbean macaw to go extinct. The last one died off before the 1900s.

3) Aurochs— this animal, which is thought by many to be a myth, is the ancestor to domestic cattle. They lived throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa and died off in 1627.

4) The Dodo— this flightless bird is probably one of the most famous extinct animals. There extinction is thought to have happened years following 1662.

5) The Dusky Seaside Sparrow— was a non-migratory species of the Seaside Sparrow. This species was found in Southern Florida and was declared extinct in 1990.

6) The Labrador Duck— this species of duck apparently did not taste good, making its extinction a mystery. It was always quite rare though and later disappeared between 1850 and 1870.

7) The Heath Hen— famous for likely being the foundation of the Pilgrim’s first thanksgiving, these birds lived in coastal North America and were declared extinct in 1932.

8) The Ivory-billed Woodpecker— home to the southeastern part of the United States, this animal disappeared and hasn’t been seen since the 1940s.

9) The Imperial Woodpecker— scientists have not confirmed if this animal is in fact extinct, but there hasn't been a confirmed sighting in over 50 years. This bird has many similarities to that of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (including appearance).

10) The Great Auk— the ice-age is responsible for wiping out these animals in the mid-19th century. They were found across the Atlantic from Northern Spain through to Canada.

11) Woolly Mammoth— even though the last population of mammoths lived 4000 years ago, scientists have access to well-preserved DNA from them.

12) The Mastodon— a species related to elephants that lived in North and Central America. They have been extinct for over 12,000 years.

13) The Moa— similar to the dodo, these bird were also flightless. They weighed over 500 pounds and reached heights of 12 feet. They became extinct by the year 1400.

14) Elephant bird— a flightless bird weighing over 880 pounds. This large bird was found on the island of Madagascar and died out by the 17th century.

15) The Passenger Pigeon— this type of pigeon died out after 1914 due to being overhunted.

16) The Pyrenean ibex— lived in Southern France and the Northern Pyrenees, but died out in January 2000.

17) The Quagga— this animal was a species of plains Zebra. The last one in captivity died in 1883 in South Africa.

18) Smilodon— more commonly known as the Saber-toothed tiger, the animal died out over 10,000 years ago at the end of the ice age.

19) Baiji— a type of freshwater dolphin which lived in the Yangtze River in China. Expeditions were done to find the dolphin in 2006 but nothing turned up.

20) The Thylacine— also known as the Tasmanian Tiger, this marsupial lived until the 1960s in Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea.

21) The Steller's sea cow— found in the North Pacific, this species of manatee lived only 27 years.

22) The Caribbean Monk Seal— the last of its kind was seen in 1952 and died due to overhunting.

23) The Huia— was a large species of New Zealand wattlebird which went extinct in the 20th century.

24) The Moho— native to Hawaii, these birds died because of hunting in 1934.

While this possibility may be exciting for some scientists, others are not so pleased. There are those that remain skeptical that this is even possible and others believe that bringing back extinct species could be problematic and unethical. For one, we do not know the impact that these animals will have if re-introduced in the environment. Others believe that bringing extinct animals back goes against nature as humans “play god”. 

Another image that pops into people’s heads when thinking of de-extincting animals, is what unfolded in the movie Jurassic Park. Could we end up with a situation similar to that of the movie? Rest assured, this cannot happen since dinosaur DNA is over 65 million years old and scientists can only use DNA that is no older then tens of thousands of years for cloning. 

Whether this will work or not is yet to be found. Still, the concept seems very exciting and it could open up new possibilities if successful.