Is extinct really forever?

[Gadzoox]

What would you say if someone told you that we now (or soon) will have the technology to bring back animals that have been extinct for hundreds of years?


Of course we would need some DNA... which we DO have from a Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger)!!!

Ah yes, I've been watching the Discovery channel again and am all excited about something that's been 'discovered'.

Hear me out though.

Scientists have found aThylacine pup that has beed kept in a jar of alcohol from about 140 years ago. Luckily the pups' inner organs, minus the intestine, were all kept intact and were able to retrive 10 tissue samples from the heart, lungs, kidneys and brain; all before the tiny body could decay. After much hope and late nights, DNA tissues were found. The first step in re-introducing the Tasmanian Tiger into the wild.

The next step is to piece the fragmented DNA strands back together and find a close enough species to mother the marsupial pup. Dr. Firestone (one of the main scientists on the project) made a breakthrough and brought the first pieces together. She was also able to replicate more for future use as well.

Dr. Archer (the man who is the drive behind it all) and others have figured the best suitor to mother the first Thylacine pup would be the Tasmanian Devil.

Some possible downfalls are:
-What if the DNA is not complete and produces a deformed pup?
-Who will teach the first pup to BE a Tasmanian Tiger?
-Will it be able to survive?

Now I want to hear what you guys think of all this.

Some think Dr. Archer is 'playing God' here... though I do not. Humans destroyed a beautiful living being and millions of souls because of a false myth. (In the mid 1830's, it was thought the Thylacine was killing sheep herds and had a price on their heads, when it was really wild dogs. :disgust: ) Now, if fate wishes this to happen, we can bring it back and mend out past mistakes. This new technology can also save current endangered species on the brink of extinction from man's fault. Hopefully this will all come out for the better.

For more detailed and perhaps acurate info and images go to: www.austmus.gov.au/thylacine/


Thanks for your time and 'ears';
~Gadzoox

[Sid554]

Originally posted by Gadzoox


Some think Dr. Archer is 'playing God' here... though I do not. Humans destroyed a beautiful living being and millions of souls because of a false myth. (In the mid 1830's, it was thought the Thylacine was killing sheep herds and had a price on their heads, when it was really wild dogs. :disgust: ) Now, if fate wishes this to happen, we can bring it back and mend out past mistakes. This new technology can also save current endangered species on the brink of extinction from man's fault. Hopefully this will all come out for the better.

For more detailed and perhaps acurate info and images go to: www.austmus.gov.au/thylacine/


Thanks for your time and 'ears';
~Gadzoox


It's not quite the same though is it. If you "bring back" a species that was once extinct, it will never again be the way it was before it became extinct. Humans may be capable of some great things, but we can't restore this or any other species as they were. When a species goes extinct, the natural equilibrium which exists in nature is disrupted, but gradually adjusts to its absense. Re-introducing the species would go against this natural order, with unknown consequences resulting from it. Seeing as how this sort of thing has never actually been accomplished before, we can't have the slightest idea of what those consequences might be. So, to sum up, it was a mistake to hunt this species to extinction, but it might be an even bigger mistake to bring it back.
And I do honestly believe this is nothing BUT playing God.

[Infernal Mass]

i say bring the tasmaninan tiger back, man killed it off. If it had went extinct on it's own ..i would have a diffrent opinion.

[007_JamesBond]

about your downfalls that is most deffinitely what will happen, it took them 323 times to get the cloned sheep Dolly to become aperfect match how many of them do you think it will take them to clone an extinct tiger, I am a huge tiger fan, but I do hope that they do succed but not for a while, about survival it probably will not survive even if it was raised by a close relative of the tiger, aka the begal I think, it is possible that it may have no real instincts due to the fact that no one taught it to have any, if they did make work though, a clone of what really was hundred years ago, it would be a scientific break through, but playing god is wrong

[BlackThornn]

I say bring it back. Even if it can't be automatically back to "it's former glory" It's still something..

A bunch of ignorant fools from the nineteenth century destroyed all of these animals, it's the least the intelligent minds of THIS era can do to at least reintroduce some form of it back into the world.

[tokim021]

i am against all kinds of cloning,even for the good... I am a christian and strongly belive that all living things are created by God

[BlackThornn]

Everything is created by god. Cloning is just Mankind acting as a proxy.

If God didn't "want us" to end up utilizing this technology he wouldn't have given us the minds to do it. I mean, if "God's plan" does exist, don't you think he would have given us the power to undo some of the harm we had done to the world given to us when we were mature enough as a species?

[007_JamesBond]

I dont like cloning infact I hate it, it is playing god. and about that god creating us thing, it took him 6 days to create the earth and it took us almost 5 billion just to have this technology, when the world is thrust into the darkness and mankinds reign on the planet, has come to an end behold the strong therefore they will survive

[AsylumEscapee]

Personally I think religion is all BS, so the playing god thing doesnt really bother me. Nor do I care if acient creatures run amok and destroy the eco-system. I guess what I'm trying to say is: I want my mutantated tiger pet.:ghost:

[Gadzoox]

Well I figure that if fate, destiny or even this God fellow wants us to do it, then they will allow it. If it wasn't meant to be then we will fail.

I don't think it /could/ destroy the eco-system if i all worked out fine. All they eat are birds, rodents and things like kangaroos and other marsupials, which are not uncommon in Australia.


The 'Tasmanian Tiger or Wolf' Isn't a tiger at all, nor is it a wolf. It is a Marsupial, like a kangaroo or a wallaby. It has a 'pouch' in lamens terms.

Here's a pic for all you who didn't bother to follow that link.

http://www.aristotle.net/~swarmack/hodgraph/thyside.JPG
http://www.obee.ucla.edu/Faculty/Blumstein/images/Thylacine.jpg
The Thylacine's greatest characteristic was it's huge mouth. (above)
http://home.mira.net/~areadman/tiger2.jpg

""The Thylacine was sandy yellowish-brown to grey in colour and had 15 to 20 distinct dark stripes across the back from shoulders to tail. Although the large head was dog- or wolf-like, the tail was short and stiff and the legs were relatively short. Body hair was dense, short and soft, to 15mm in length.

It had short ears about 80 mm long that were erect, rounded and covered with short fur. Jaws were large and powerful and there were 46 teeth. Adult male Thylacine were larger on average than females.

The female Thylacine had a back-opening pouch. The litter size was up to four and the young were dependent on the mother until at least half-grown. "" ((Excerpt and images taken from the above mentioned link.))

[AsylumEscapee]

Oh my god! It's a zebra-dog! I want one.

[Gadzoox]

Originally posted by AsylumEscapee
Oh my god! It's a zebra-dog! I want one.


:laugh:

[Vicious_2003]

Personally i think that before we actually did try and re introduce it to the wild, we should make sure that our other specis that havent yet gone extinct are well out of danger, this could easily take the focus off of our now indangered animals . But after that Id be all for it, as for playing god, I think priests, ya know like the ones who rape little childeren, I think they R the ones playing god. Ahem, sorry about that, anyways im for it, but hopefully we dont pull a jurassic park and have T rexes at our dorrsteps ;) :D

[AsylumEscapee]

Originally posted by Weapon_XZ84
Personally i think that before we actually did try and re introduce it to the wild, we should make sure that our other specis that havent yet gone extinct are well out of danger, this could easily take the focus off of our now indangered animals . But after that Id be all for it, as for playing god, I think priests, ya know like the ones who rape little childeren, I think they R the ones playing god. Ahem, sorry about that, anyways im for it, but hopefully we dont pull a jurassic park and have T rexes at our dorrsteps ;) :D

How are rapist priests playing god?

[happy_doughnut]

Originally posted by Sid554



It's not quite the same though is it. If you "bring back" a species that was once extinct, it will never again be the way it was before it became extinct. Humans may be capable of some great things, but we can't restore this or any other species as they were. When a species goes extinct, the natural equilibrium which exists in nature is disrupted, but gradually adjusts to its absense. Re-introducing the species would go against this natural order, with unknown consequences resulting from it. Seeing as how this sort of thing has never actually been accomplished before, we can't have the slightest idea of what those consequences might be. So, to sum up, it was a mistake to hunt this species to extinction, but it might be an even bigger mistake to bring it back.
And I do honestly believe this is nothing BUT playing God.

Couldn't have said it better myself :) .

The sad and unfortunate truth about the ' extinction ' of the Thylacine is just that : the sad and unfortunate truth.
I don't think that once something has been removed it will ever again be the same, no matter if it is identical, it just won't.

To those whom believe it, cloning IS an act of defying God.
God created the world and by ' cloning ', Mankind is trying to take over the reigns that were once held by Him, thus the treachery and defiance enhances.

I personally don't think it can be done. They may come close, but I wouldn't count on success. However, I would like to see them perform this act. It would finally prove wether they are capable of fulfilling the cloning project or not. All I can say is that I hope that it doesn't blow up in their faces.

[BlackThornn]

Mena.. I thought you were an atheist..? O_o Where did I get that from...?

Anyway.. I REALLY disagree about cloning being an act of defiance. Again, if God didn't want us to do it he would intervene, or not have given us the mental power to comprehend such a feat.

I kind of agree with your statement that the Thylacine will not be the same, but bringing at least a few of them back is better than just leaving them exterminated BY (exceedingly f*****g stupid examples of) MAN.

As for it not being able to be done.. well, that's not a matter I can really discuss, as I'm not a geneticist.. But I think that it is possible, if improbable.

[happy_doughnut]

Originally posted by BlackThornn
Mena.. I thought you were an atheist..? O_o Where did I get that from...?

Atheist ? O.O' Why would you think that ? Actually, I'm ' rating pending ' at the current moment :disturb: .


Anyway.. I REALLY disagree about cloning being an act of defiance. Again, if God didn't want us to do it he would intervene, or not have given us the mental power to comprehend such a feat.


I think you noticed that I inserted a small sentence which read : ' To those whom believe it ' . Meaning, not everyone does, and therefore, that statement was not directed to those who don't.
However *tries not to go into a Bible preaching* , I was taught that God gave us free will and a brain to go along with it.
With the free will, we asume ( or at least we should ) responsibility for our actions. We decide wether or not we want to do certain things.
With the brain, well, look what Mankind has accomplished. God will not intervene, or at least, that's what I think.


As for the overall thing : It may or may not be able to be done.
Personally, I think cloning disrupts the balance which is found in nature. Also, by cloning, only a small part of the problem will be solved. Have we forgotten that the ones who are presenting this new solution upon us are the same ones who brought the problem onto the world as well ? Mankind is responsible both for the loss, and now trying to be, for the recreation of lost beings.
Suppose cloning does in fact turn out to be a success... what then ? What about the big problem : What will prevent men from putting other species on the borderline of extinction ?

[Gadzoox]

I sent this to someone and after reading it they said, "But WHY?". As simple as that. I didn't have an answer either.

I know I personally want the Thylacine back... because WE killed it off, with our own goddamned stupidity. :frust: SO I figured, what if we could bring it back?! That would be cool because it would be alive again! But why?
It would only be cool to see them again. That's all.

What benefits would we get for doing this? Well first off we would be able to say, "Yeah! See that thing? We killed it off a while ago, then brought it back! Cool, eh?!"
...then we would also be able to PREVENT extinction from ever happening again, (which is the biggest thing for me I suppose), we could bring up the popluation of Tigers and Red Wolves and those little Frogs too! But then again, do we want a bunch of lab-kitties and lab-puppies, and lab-froggies running around?! It might seem... wired somehow...
What happens if they all go crazy and start killing us off as payback because they have highly advanced brains for some reason?! WHAT IF?! :shock:

That would suck.
:right:

[Vicious_2003]

Just to answer AsylumEscapee's question, I think that all priests and fathers and...well whatever, pope, you name it, are playing god because they are supposed to be spreading gods word,and many claim to have spoken or communicated with god , As an athiest I dont belive in god necessarily so I dont belive that they are in any way more holy or respectable than the average Joe. Thats my opinion anyway, who knows, doesent have anythign to do with them being rapists, i just like to throw that in catholics faces every once and a while, again just my opinion, take it for what its worth (Wich isnt much) Also, not to keep reverting back to religioun as my subject matter but, Im willing to bet that it wouldnt matter what we did, "god" Wouldnt do anythign to stop it, (Because he doesent exist and If he/she/it does he should have done things to stop many of the terrible things that have happened such as September 11th) And in that case then we shouldnt even worry about weather god approves or not becasue if he doesent he will stop it right