Is it possible to recover extinct animal species?
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Humanity has been playing with natural life for thousands of years.
We’ve gotten pretty good at it too: so far, we’ve engineered bacteria to produce medicine, created crops with built-in pesticides, and even made a dog that glows in the dark.
However, despite our many successes in the field of genetic engineering, one thing we are still working on is bringing extinct animals back to life.
But scientists are working on it. In fact, there is an entire field of biology that focuses on reviving extinct species.
Using data published in Science News, this graphic provides a brief introduction to the fascinating field of science known as resurrection or de-extinction biology.
The benefits of de-extinction
First thing’s first: what’s the point of bringing back extinct animals?
There are a number of research benefits that come with de-extinction. For example, some scientists believe that studying previously extinct animals and seeing how they work could help fill in some of the gaps in our current theories of evolution.
De-extinction could also have a beneficial impact on the environment. This is because when an animal becomes extinct, its absence has a ripple effect on all the flora and fauna involved in that animal’s food web.
Because of this, the reintroduction of previously extinct species into their former ecosystems could help rebalance and restore environments out of danger.
There is even a chance that de-extinction could slow global warming. Scientist Sergey Zimov believes that if we were to reintroduce a woolly mammoth-like animal back into the tundra, it could help repopulate the area, regrow the old plains, and possibly slow the melting of the ice caps.
How it works?
The key element needed to recreate a species is its DNA.
Unfortunately, DNA degrades slowly, and once it’s completely gone, there’s no way to get it back. Researchers believe that DNA has a half-life of 521 years, so after 6.8 million years, it is thought to be completely gone.
This is why species like dinosaurs have practically no chance of extinction. However, many organisms that became extinct more recently, such as the dodo, may have conservation potential.
When it comes to de-extinction, there are three main techniques:
① Cloning
This is the only way to create an exact DNA replica of something.
However, a complete genome is needed for this, so this form of genetic rescue is most effective with recently lost or endangered species.
② Genome editing
Genome editing is the manipulation of DNA to mimic extinct DNA.
There are several ways to do this, but in general, the process involves researchers manipulating the genomes of living species to make a new one that closely resembles an extinct one.
Because it is not an exact copy of the DNA of the extinct species, this method will create a hybrid species that only resembles the extinct animal.
③ Rear breeding
A form of breeding where a distinctive feature of an extinct species (a horn or color pattern) is reproduced in living populations.
This requires that the trait still exists with some frequency in similar species, and the trait is selectively recovered to become popular again.
Like genome editing, this method does not resurrect an extinct species, but resurrects the DNA and genetic diversity that gave the extinct species a distinctive trait.
Is it really worth recovering extinct animal species?
While there is a lot of buzz and potential surrounding the idea of bringing back extinct animal species, there are some critics who believe our efforts would be better spent on other things.
Research into the economics of de-extinction found that money would go further if invested in conservation programs for living species: two to eight times as many species could be saved if invested in existing conversation programs.
In an article in Science, Joseph Bennett, a biologist at Carleton University in Ottawa, said “yes [a] The billionaire is only interested in bringing a species back from the dead, power for himself or herself.”
Bennett added: “However, if this billionaire is looking at it in terms of biodiversity conservation, that is false. There are many species on the brink of extinction now that could be saved with the same resources.”