Why Scientists Want To Bring Extinct Animals Back From The Dead

Scientists from a company in Dallas, Texas recently announced they would try to revive a dodo that disappeared in 1681 through a process called resuscitation. Why do researchers want to revive long-extinct species?

What is destruction and how does it work?

Extinction, also known as "rebirth biology" and "rebirth," has reversed the extinction of plants and animals using the genetics of living species, explains Colossal Biosciences, the company behind dodo resuscitation efforts. Cloning is the most popular method of destruction, although rebreeding and genome editing also fall into this category. Through selective breeding, scientists find individuals with ancient traits in extinct species and selectively breed them. In the process of cloning, researchers create "genetically identical duplicates of biological life," Colossal explains. Since cloning requires the use of intact living cells, it is really only suitable for endangered species, not those that are already extinct. Genome editing is the process by which scientists manipulate the genetic material of living organisms by "deleting, replacing, or inserting DNA sequences." Scientists can use this process to create hybrids between extinct species and closely related living organisms.

"Extinction is the wrong word," Gizmodo said , because it doesn't return an extinct creature "the way it used to be" but instead provides the "best scientific analogy" for an extinct creature. Regenerating species may not have all of the genetic, behavioral, and physiological characteristics of their ancestors, so scientists are technically creating close copies, or "representatives."

What does Colossal do?

The company is moving forward with plans to revive the dodo. Ben Lam, co-founder and CEO of Colossal, called the bird, which disappeared 100 years after it was discovered by humans, "a symbol of human extinction," writes the Associated Press . Beth Shapiro, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz and lead paleontologist at Colossal, said her team has completed the first phase of the project, CNN reports. Using genetic material obtained from the remains of the Danish dodo, they actually sequenced the dodo's genome from DNA. They will compare the genomes of the dodo and its closest relative, the Nicobar pigeon and the extinct Rodrigues pigeon. The experiment will allow them to find out which mutations "made the dodo the dodo," Shapiro said.

In addition to reviving extinct animals, the company said it plans to create a library that will contain the genetic material and embryos of endangered species. According to Colossal, "This process will slow down the long-term impacts of biodiversity loss and ensure that endangered species are protected from extinction as their numbers decline."

Since launching in 2021, Colossal has raised $225 million from numerous investors, including the American Innovation Technology Fund, Breyer Capital and In-Q-Tel, "a CIA venture capital firm that invests in disruptive technologies," explains AP .

What other animals have scientists brought back to life?

In addition to the dodo, Colossal also has plans to revive the woolly mammoth and the thylacine, or thylacine, or tiger. Among those projects is the Tauros program, which uses selective breeding to return a wild bovine species, the bison, to its modern day domestic offspring, according to Ouanta magazine . The South African Quagga project is using zebras to breed the quagga, a subspecies that was extirpated to extinction two centuries ago. In 2003, Spanish researchers at the Center for Food Research and Technology of Aragon succeeded in cloning the first extinct animal, an Iberian, using DNA from the last living specimen that had died three years earlier. The clone lived only a few minutes and died of lung failure.

Why revive an extinct species?

Revivalists say it is ultimately a conservation tool. “The goal is for existing ecosystems to adapt to radical modern environmental changes such as global warming and possibly reverse those changes,” said George Church, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, in Scientific American . For example, the return of woolly mammoths to the North Pole could cool the region by “(a) eating dead grass, which would allow the sun to reach the spring grasses, whose deep roots prevented erosion; sunlight and (c) break through snow insulation to let frozen air into the ground,” Church said. Colossal also said "repatriating" extinct species or returning them to their natural habitat would boost the local economy and help around the impact of climate change.

Any objections?

Critics say the time and money spent on eradication research could be better spent protecting hundreds of endangered animals and plants. “Why did you try to save something in the past when there are so many hopeless things now?” Julian Hume, an ornithologist and paleontologist who studies dodos at the Natural History Museum in London, asked CNN's Cathy Hunt.

Others believe that the original habitat of extinct animals does not exist and may not be a suitable habitat for them. "You don't rejuvenate a degraded environment by finding amazing work for genetically engineered animals whose connection to real ecosystems either never existed or was severed thousands of years ago," said Ross McPhee, head of dairy science at the American Museum. . Natural history, says Gizmodo .

Daniel Heath Justice, an indigenous scientist and animal culture historian at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, told National Geographic that he was concerned about how the extinction could affect the Inuit. "Honestly, I'm pretty suspicious that new scientists want to recreate the world in a certain way," Justice said.

Whether Colossal succeeds in bringing extinct species back to life, "genetic research conducted on behalf of their creation could help us better understand relationships between species and how to protect living beings from threats such as disease," says Gizmodo's Isaac Schultz. . “Better understanding of species at the genetic level, both extinct and existing, is good.”