How many of us watched Jurassic Park or its sequel The Lost World and wondered how far away we were from such a visionan amusement park in which dinosaurs and other extinct species lived once again? Considering how many people are trying to replicate similar technology today, the answer is probably more than a few. However, there are issues associated with the technologyand rampaging dinosaurs are only part of the story.In 2009, the Pyrenean Ibex was the first extinct animal to be clonedand in effect, become “un-extinct.” The last Ibex had been killed by a falling tree in 2000, and its tissue samples were frozen in liquid nitrogen. However, the cloned ibex died after seven minutes due to lung defects. This demonstrated the need for pristine DNA when cloning, as even small defects could cause issues. It’s also unlikely that breeding members of the same species could be cloned from a single specimen.It’s not just the “how” that’s an issue, thoughthe “why” must be considered, as well. Many people wonder why we should be spending money on this extravagant technology when there are endangered species still capable of being saved by less drastic means. Preserving habitat and limiting hunting is still the preferred method of preserving endangered species. For extinct animals, we may have to resign them to Hollywood thrillersfor now.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 29th, 2010 at 12:32 pm and is filed under Cloning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.