Thinking About De-Extinction

Scientists are beginning to think about the implications of bringing extinct species of animals back to life.

We could be on the cusp of the very first species De-extinctions. Recent advances in DNA and cloning technology have made the idea of resurrection of animals like the woolly mammoth or the dodo from preserved remains at least a possibility. Some scientists are now to looking beyond the process of bringing these animals back to life, and towards the questions of how and whether we might re-introduce them into the wild. Dr. Axel Moehrenschlager, Head of the Centre for Conservation & Research at the Calgary Zoo and Adjunct Associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary, is one of the scientists contemplating the future of De-extinction. He and his colleagues have used the same criteria used for considering reintroduction of animals like wolves to their original territories to analyze the practicality and desireability of bringing back extinct animals.

Related Links

• Paper in Trends in Ecology and Evolution
• Calgary Zoo release
• CBC News story
• LiveScience story