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I get the argument from a theoretical perspective, but in practice most recently extinct species have very close relatives we could probably co-opt into teachin

I get the argument from a theoretical perspective, but in practice most recently extinct species have very close relatives we could probably co-opt into teaching rearing practices if necessary. (captive) elephants could almost certainly be used to raise cloned wolly mammoths; there are a variety of Rhino species which could be used to help raise un-extinct Rhinos. I don't see why it's not worth trying. Maybe it will work for some species, and it won't for others, but there have been much largest amounts of money wasted on much less noble projects.

hprotagonist 10y ago
>(captive) elephants could almost certainly be used to raise cloned wolly mammoths Their native habitats are about as totally different as you can get without being underwater. Why do you assume their behaviors will be similar?
- sp332 10y ago
  We know enough about woolly mammoths to know that they behaved and ate in a roughly similar way to elephants. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolly_mammoth#Palaeobiology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolly_mammoth#Palaeobiology
  - M_Grey 10y ago
    I'm really not convinced, especially when you add the role of environment; the epigenetic factors.
FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
> (captive) elephants could almost certainly be used to raise cloned wolly mammoths By that logic, bonobos could almost certainly be used to raised cloned humans. I would actually like to see the results of this experiment, particularly manner in which the person would resolve conflicts :) > Maybe it will work for some species, and it won't for others, but there have been much largest amounts of money wasted on much less noble projects. This is more philosophy, but this doesn't seem noble at all. Unless the animal being resurrected plays a crucial, irreplaceable role in the global ecosystem, these actions strike me as a hubris borne out of a collective/species-wide guilt for exterminating the animal in the first place. Yes, our actions caused a species to go extinct. We should accept and make peace with that. It is cruel to bring a species back from extinction to be captive, like bringing something back from the dead so it can truly serve a sentence of life in prison. Also, if we aren't doing anything to preserve its natural habitat, and all elements point to a more, not less, anthropocenic world, then it will just go extinct again in the wild.
- dennisgorelik 10y ago
  The main reason to resurrect extinct species is the scientific research (and not the "guilt treatment").
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]

hprotagonist 10y ago

>(captive) elephants could almost certainly be used to raise cloned wolly mammoths Their native habitats are about as totally different as you can get without being underwater. Why do you assume their behaviors will be similar?

sp332 10y ago
We know enough about woolly mammoths to know that they behaved and ate in a roughly similar way to elephants. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolly_mammoth#Palaeobiology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolly_mammoth#Palaeobiology
- M_Grey 10y ago
  I'm really not convinced, especially when you add the role of environment; the epigenetic factors.

FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago

> (captive) elephants could almost certainly be used to raise cloned wolly mammoths By that logic, bonobos could almost certainly be used to raised cloned humans. I would actually like to see the results of this experiment, particularly manner in which the person would resolve conflicts :) > Maybe it will work for some species, and it won't for others, but there have been much largest amounts of money wasted on much less noble projects. This is more philosophy, but this doesn't seem noble at all. Unless the animal being resurrected plays a crucial, irreplaceable role in the global ecosystem, these actions strike me as a hubris borne out of a collective/species-wide guilt for exterminating the animal in the first place. Yes, our actions caused a species to go extinct. We should accept and make peace with that. It is cruel to bring a species back from extinction to be captive, like bringing something back from the dead so it can truly serve a sentence of life in prison. Also, if we aren't doing anything to preserve its natural habitat, and all elements point to a more, not less, anthropocenic world, then it will just go extinct again in the wild.

dennisgorelik 10y ago
The main reason to resurrect extinct species is the scientific research (and not the "guilt treatment").
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]