all the animals hunted down like dodo birds,buffalo
2006-10-05 14:51:15 · 13 answers · asked by spunduckvoo 1 in Environment
Scientist are exploring the possibility of cloning the extinct Tasmanian tiger http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0711/p12s02-stgn.html Others are looking at the possibility of cloning a mammoth http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3075381.stm . The trouble with cloning an extinct animal is that the DNA has to be one hundred percent intact and a suitable surrogate mother has to be found in which to implant the foetus.
Jurrasic Park will never be possible as no intact DNA has ever been recovered from prehystoric mosquitoes buried in amber. DNA degrades over time.
2006-10-05 22:44:41 · answer #1 · answered by uselessadvice 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I admire your fervor for the protection of wildlife, it is a really good cause. But in the cases of already extinct animals, reintroducing them into an environment that for whatever reason has not allowed their survival, beit hunting or natural selection, will produce more chaos than benefit. In the history of the planet, 99.9% of all species that were alive at one time are now extinct so this too is a natural process and someday will happen with our species. Naturally or un-naturally we cant beat the numbers so enjoy what we still have and don't worry about things that cant be changed.
2006-10-05 17:01:40 · answer #2 · answered by asylum31 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, first of all, they need a source of viable DNA. Right now, that means access to living animals.
Second even if you get the tech to surmount that problem, you need a certain amount of genetic variation for a species to survive. If all existing members of a species are cloned from one museum speciemen somewhere, they'd have no variation and recessive genetic defects would be universally expressed, not a way to reestablish a viable species.
It's a nice fantasy, just not possible. Yet.
2006-10-05 14:58:20 · answer #3 · answered by leons1701 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good idea and someone is probably going to give it a try, except you can't get DNA from an extinct animal--Movie like Jurassic Park have given people a wrong idea (that it's possible to get DNA from an extinct mosquito embedded in amber)
2006-10-05 14:56:24 · answer #4 · answered by casey54 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The problem is NOT that we cannot get DNA (think how they got it in the Jurassic Park movies.)
The problem is, is where our cloning technology is today, you need a host to implant the embryo into... thats right... to clone a sheep you need to have a sheep to carry the embryo to term.
So we need a mother to implant a cloned animal into, and with extinct animals there are no host mothers available.
2006-10-05 15:09:15 · answer #5 · answered by Dylan 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
the dna taken from a sheep is still living, so it can reproduce and create an embryo, which creates a clone of the sheep, while the extinct animals are obviously not living, therefore, the cells cannot reproduce.
2006-10-05 14:53:23 · answer #6 · answered by smoo. 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well they havn't really perfected cloning yet. Most of the clones like Dolly the sheep are weaker than the original and are succumbed to disease after a series of days.
2006-10-05 14:59:18 · answer #7 · answered by matt_sbd 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They would probably try if they had good tissue and DNA samples from those extinct animals.
BTW buffalo are nowhere near extinction
2006-10-05 14:54:00 · answer #8 · answered by ©2009 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because then those animals would go on a huge killing spree and be out of control. Haven't you ever seen Jurassic Park?
2006-10-05 14:52:35 · answer #9 · answered by jen 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
maybe cuz they dont have the DNA of those extinct creatures?
2006-10-05 14:52:39 · answer #10 · answered by XZELSOR 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋