
A project to revive long-gone species is a sideshow to the real extinction crisis
“We will get woolly mammoths back.” So vowed environmentalist Stewart Brand at the TED conference in Long Beach, Calif., in February in laying out his vision for reviving extinct species. The mammoth isn’t the only vanished creature Brand and other proponents of “de-extinction” want to resurrect. The passenger pigeon, Caribbean monk seal and great auk are among the other candidates—all species that blinked out at least in part because of Homo sapiens. “Humans have made a huge hole in nature in the last 10,000 years,” Brand asserted. “We have the ability now—and maybe the moral obligation—to repair some of the damage.”
Just a few years ago such de-extinction was the purview of science fiction. Now it is so near at hand that in March, Brand’s Long Now Foundation, along with TED and the National Geographic Society, convened an entire conference on the topic. Indeed, thanks to recent advances in cloning and the sequencing of ancient DNA, among other feats of biotechnology, researchers may soon be able to re-create any number of species once thought to be gone for good.
That does not mean that they should, however. The idea of bringing back extinct species holds obvious gee-whiz appeal and a respite from a steady stream of grim news. Yet with limited intellectual bandwidth and financial resources to go around, de-extinction threatens to divert attention from the modern biodiversity crisis. According to a 2012 report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, some 20,000 species are currently in grave danger of going extinct. Species today are vanishing in such great numbers—many from hunting and habitat destruction—that the trend has been called a sixth mass extinction, an event on par with such die-offs as the one that befell the dinosaurs (and much else) 65 million years ago. A program to restore extinct species poses a risk of selling the public on a false promise that technology alone can solve our ongoing environmental woes—an implicit assurance that if a species goes away, we can snap our fingers and bring it back.
Ironically, the de-extinction conference immediately followed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting in Bangkok, which underscored just how devastating the trade has been. Reports released to coincide with the meeting revealed that between 2002 and 2011, the African forest elephant population declined by 62 percent from poaching; that fishing kills at least 100 million sharks a year—many of them members of imperiled species; and that between 2000 and 2012, an average of 110 tigers a year were killed (as few as 3,200 of the cats remain in the wild). Poachers slaughter 30,000 African elephants every year for their ivory—the highest kill rate since the 1980s. At this rate, the species could disappear in two decades. So could Africa’s rhinos, prized for their horns.
Already conservationists face difficult choices about which species and ecosystems to try to save, since they cannot hope to rescue them all.
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- Early humans likely prompted the demise of woolly mammoths and other ancient species: Studyon July 24, 2024 at 11:03 am
Early humans may have played a significant role in the demise of one of the most iconic ancient species -- the woolly mammoth -- and others like it, scientists say.
- How will the reintroduction of this extinct species in Kansas impact the environment?on July 19, 2024 at 9:53 am
An aquatics expert with Kansas State University is weighing in on the imminent reintroduction of a species that hasn’t called the state home for more than 30 years. 27 News first learned the Kansas ...
- A butterfly went extinct. That’s not the end of the storyon July 16, 2024 at 3:56 pm
Development in the fast-growing city gobbled the Xerces’ habitat, driving it to oblivion and rendering it the first butterfly known to go extinct in North America due to human activity. The last was ...
- This butterfly went extinct. That’s not the end of the story.on July 15, 2024 at 3:30 am
If so, what creatures should serve as surrogates for extinct ones? And could this become a roundabout way of bringing species back from extinction? The butterfly experiment taking flight now in ...
- Back from the Dead: Animals You Thought Were Extincton July 9, 2024 at 10:17 pm
Yet, the most common way extinct species come back to life is that they were never ... This rare bird, also known as a cahow, was thought to be dead for over 300 years. In the 1600s, there were ...
- endangered specieson June 11, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Once thought to be extinct, they are making their way back… ‘Adopt an axolotl’ campaign in Mexico aims to help save critically endangered species ... documented as dead, seriously injured ...
- The Tasmanian Tiger Has Been Extinct for 87 Years. It's About to Return From the Dead.on September 25, 2023 at 7:04 am
Scientists hope this technique can be applied to other extinct species that’ve been decimated by humanity’s impact on the natural world. Science could soon bring an animal back from the dead ...
- Should extinct species be brought back to life?on March 29, 2023 at 6:27 am
Should we bring extinct species back to life? Sometimes whole species of animals or plants become extinct due to the changes in their habitat, predators or disease. But over the last 500 years ...
- If you could bring one extinct species back to life, what would it be?on October 13, 2015 at 8:00 am
Little is known about this extinct species, which makes these cute (we ... If we brought them back, it would be the closest thing to riding dragons we'd have - only if they were willing to carry ...
- These Are The 24 Animals Scientists Want To Bring Back From Extinctionon March 6, 2015 at 1:19 am
A recent New York Times Magazine article "The Mammoth Cometh" describes how scientists are trying to bring extinct animals back from the dead. This is based on research presented last year at a ...
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- Early humans likely prompted the demise of woolly mammoths and other ancient species: Studyon July 24, 2024 at 11:03 am
Early humans may have played a significant role in the demise of one of the most iconic ancient species -- the woolly mammoth -- and others like it, scientists say.
- Real-Life Biotech Firm Petitions Star Trek's Federation on Reddit to Change Galactic Lawon July 23, 2024 at 10:38 am
You can read the text of their application to the Federation below.
- Fifteen Years Of Elasmobranchs Trade Unveiled By DNA Toolson July 20, 2024 at 3:00 am
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - MAY 11 ... Examining both national and international extinction risk status lists, alongside key conservation and labeling legislation, researchers propose the implementation ...
- Meryl Streep to Narrate Conservation Doc ‘Escape From Extinction Rewilding’ (EXCLUSIVE)on July 19, 2024 at 12:38 pm
Three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep will lend her voice to narrate the sequel to the 2020 award-winning documentary “Escape from Extinction.” Directed and produced by Matthew Brady through MRB ...
- ‘Fanatic’ Extinction Rebellion founder gets record jail sentenceon July 18, 2024 at 2:11 pm
Only two of the protesters jailed on Thursday – Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, 34, and Cressida Gethin ... the elite from putting enough carbon in the atmosphere to send us to extinction.” Roger Hallam at ...
- The race to save the ‘holy grail’ of amphibians from extinctionon July 18, 2024 at 9:44 am
Researchers are fighting against time and environmental threats to protect the false toad, one of Chile’s most enigmatic frogs.
- These are the top 10 emojis in danger of extinction: studyon July 17, 2024 at 7:57 am
Today, Wednesday, July 17, is World Emoji Day — a completely made-up annual holiday and the only date that has its own emoji, displayed in the 📅 calendar emoji. Emojis are a vital part of ...
- Program: De-extinction, pt 1on July 16, 2024 at 5:01 pm
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work.
- Revolutionary technique reconstructs the 3D genome of the woolly mammoth, bringing de-extinction one step closeron July 11, 2024 at 10:34 am
The ‘chromosome fossils’ from a female who died 52,000 years ago in Siberia have opened a window to a world still unknown to science ...
- Hope for woolly mammoth ‘de-extinction’ after DNA from frozen 52,000-year-old remains found – including ‘giant foot’on July 11, 2024 at 7:02 am
SCIENTISTS have sequenced a woolly mammoth’s genome and chromosomal structures for the first time in history. The feat, published today in Cell, is also the first of its kind for any ancient ...
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