Cloning Extinct Animals I
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- retroqueen
- desertblue
- TheEdge666
- sargon
- sargon
- greywolves98589
- candyhoboXD
- candyhoboXD
- candyhoboXD
- candyhoboXD
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» retroqueen - Re: Cloning prehistoric animals
In response to message posted by AuTrou:You make a good point, but I don't think we need worry about extinct animals being cloned. I don't think it will ever happen and besides I don't think it should.
Why? Well, I suppose that we could plug in some elephant DNA to supplement the part of the sequence in the subject being cloned that was too degraded to use a la "Jurassic Park". Would that work? Could we really be sure that we knew what we were doing?
As to why it shouldn't happen: I would like to refer again to Micheal Crighton's book. You know he is a scientist besides being a medical doctor so he should know what he is talking about. Well, everybody should know about 'shoulds'. In other words, they don't always work out the way we expect.
In any case, I was much influence Crighton's use of chaos theory to explain how the dinosaurs got out of everyone's hands and ran amok. Running amok notwithstanding, I just think it would be a bad idea because no one knows how one little thing will influence the other factors in the set of actions and reactions. Back in the Age of Dinosaurs (or mammoths, or mastodons) the air was different, the climate was different, the very sunlight reaching the surface of the earth was different. It was a whole different kind of planet.
So we have a cloned mammoth or Tyrannosaurus Rex and we are going to take it from one world and put it in another. It might be that the cloned animals would just die. That would be bad enough to prick the conscience of anyone who has one. But suppose one thing follows another and we breed a new virulent micro-organism? It might not kill us, but it might kill some other organism in the biosphere breaking the food chain down putting all life on earth in jeopardy. I have seen too much science fiction.
Anyway, take that all as you will.
-- posted by retroqueen
» desertblue - Re: Re: Cloning prehistoric animals
In response to message posted by retroqueen:lots of people thought Biosphere II was a failed experiment. But I disagree. We learned a great deal about how our ecosystem fits together - and how it doesn't. If we ever want to colonize Luna and Mars and create orbital habitats, we have to start making mistakes somewhere. And even if we don't ever spread out into space, we can learn to be better caretakers here.
Breeding extinct animals can also teach us something, whether we succeed or not. We are losing entire populations and species everyday through human-caused extinction. Maybe one of these will provide a cure for cancer or something big, a la the film Medicine Man...who knows? I don't think recreated mastodons will run amok on some kind of Paleolithic Park island, although I do agree they probably will have a tough time adapting to our climate, atmosphere, sunlight intensity, microbes, etc.
Keep in the mind that the California Condor is also a Paleo-remnant. Its future is still in doubt: this isn't the same world they evolved in. Humans have to provide dead cows for them: they used to live off dead mammoths...
Maybe we should start by cloning the dwarf mammoth species (found on the Channel Islands off Santa Barbara). Then we can all have little mammoth pets in our houses someday (JOKE). Ha. Anyway, that's my two cents for the day. We can't stop science from doing science, but we can sure talk about how to do it responsibly.
-- posted by desertblue
» TheEdge666 - Playing God
When you think about these animals, they are dead for a reason. Most animals die out because they are not suited to changes in their current enviroment. In some cases, such as the end of the Mesozoic Era, a major event causes a speices to become extinct. My point is, we should not bring back any sort of extinct animal because we have no idea how they will react to being introduced to a new enviroment, especially one that is so much different than the one they used to live in. Who knows what the new toxins in the atmosphere could do to them? Would the herbavoures be able to extract nutrients from plants that weren't alive in their era. How would we contain them? Until we can answer these questions in a realistic manner, we should not attempt to play God.-- posted by TheEdge666
» sargon - what would the purpose of cloning an extinct animal be other ...
Your question was what would the purpose of cloning an extinct animal be other than to prove we could do it.Each species has abilities that helped them be created and destroyed. Some species have the ability to resist disease by creating antibodies that are unique. They may also mimic human responses to disease that can be beneficial in research. To give you an example the armadillo is one of the only animals besides humans that can contract leprosy. Suppose the mammoth example had antibodies that resisted AIDs or Ebola? Better yet, what if they were able to get very large on fewer calories….yummmm….mammoth burgers.
-- posted by sargon
» sargon - Re: Playing God
In response to message posted by TheEdge666:contain them...fence
If a giant meteor kills all mankind is the rebirth of mankind through cloning unnatural because mankind did not adapt to their changes in the environment? Some of the same rhetoric and extreme cautionary statements were used to turn people away from organ transplants. I do agree we have to be careful about bringing species back, but lets not get carried away about stomping on scientific progress because it doesn’t fit within the confines of our specific moral dilemmas. Come on, mammoths are herbivores…they might even taste good….lol
-- posted by sargon
» greywolves98589 - Re: what would the purpose of cloning an extinct animal be other
In response to message posted by sargon:
even if we could successfully clone a mammoth what would stop us from cloning lets say a dinosaur or other animals from the iceage?
And where would we put all there animals?
would we make something like Jurassic park?
what would happen if these animals got loose and we could not stop them what would stop them from over running the world?
-- posted by greywolves98589
» candyhoboXD - cloning a dino...commiting sucide
dude, its completely impossible to clone a dinosaur right now...ur probably trhinkin why should we listen to a 12 yr old?...i mean first of all, the genetic material would have decomposed. amber only slows the process. Even if the DNA wasn't digested by the insect or decomposed, only one male mosquito has been foud. only females take in blood.There is no egg the same size as a dinosaurs. Beisides... how are the dinosaurs and us gonna survive...together? i mean the climat, environment, and diseases are all different. We arent prepared for it... We'll only be on their menu. As malcom stated, life finds a way. If dinosaurs are resurected, palentologists like my 5th grade teacher will loose their job. However, i agree... it would be cool to have a T-rev in my back yard. It would also lower gas prices... we could ride dinos to school! XD-da one and only candy_hobo
-- posted by candyhoboXD
» candyhoboXD - Re: Re: Playing God
In response to Re: Playing God posted by sargon:true...hella true...
-- posted by candyhoboXD
» candyhoboXD - comin upt wo human cheese burgers to the short armed dude
dude, its completely impossible to clone a dinosaur right now...ur probably trhinkin why should we listen to a 12 yr old?...i mean first of all, the genetic material would have decomposed. amber only slows the process. Even if the DNA wasn't digested by the insect or decomposed, only one male mosquito has been foud. only females take in blood.There is no egg the same size as a dinosaurs. Beisides... how are the dinosaurs and us gonna survive...together? i mean the climat, environment, and diseases are all different. We arent prepared for it... We'll only be on their menu. As malcom stated, life finds a way. If dinosaurs are resurected, palentologists like my 5th grade teacher will loose their job. However, i agree... it would be cool to have a T-rev in my back yard. It would also lower gas prices... we could ride dinos to school! XD-da one and only candy_hobo
-- posted by candyhoboXD
» candyhoboXD - leave the world alone... it already has to deal with us XP
As a dude in Jurassic Park stated, the world can take care of itself...look wat our curiosity and "helpfulness" did to it....-- posted by candyhoboXD
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