Extinction - Human Attitudes and Interests - Cloning

Cloning

Ongoing technological advances have encouraged the hypothesis that by using DNA from the remains of an extinct species, through the process of cloning, the species may be "brought back to life". Proposed targets for cloning include the dinosaurs, the mammoth, thylacine, and the Pyrenean Ibex. For such a program to succeed, a sufficient number of individuals would have to be cloned, from the DNA of different individuals (in the case of sexually reproducing organisms) to create a viable population. Though bioethical and philosophical objections have been raised, the cloning of extinct creatures seems a viable outcome of the continuing advancements in science and technology.

In 2003, scientists attempted to clone the extinct Pyrenean Ibex (C. p. pyrenaica). This initial attempt failed; of the 285 embryos reconstructed, 54 were transferred to 12 mountain goats and mountain goat-domestic goat hybrids, but only two survived the initial two months of gestation before they too died. In 2009, a second attempt was made to clone the Pyrenean Ibex; one clone was born alive, but died seven minutes later, due to physical defects in the lungs.

The concept of cloning extinct species was thought to be first popularized by the successful novel and subsequent film Jurassic Park, though it may have been first used in John Brosnan's 1984 novel Carnosaur, then in F. Paul Wilson's 1989 novel Dydeetown World, and later in Piers Anthony's 1990 novel Balook, which featured the resurrection of a Baluchitherium.