Monday, March 11, 2013
Extinct animal rebirth - can we and should we?
A good discussion here of the broader questions in bringing back extinct species (would they behave like their ancestors? Would they be able to survive?) and the techniques in genetic manipulation. The passenger pigeon has a better chance than the oft-talked-about thylacine, because the former has a much closer living relative. The author also talks about back-breeding Eurasia's ancient wild cattle, the aurochs - oddly, the writer seems completely unaware the Heck brothers already tried this.
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Considering that the Pleistocene has seen repeated fluctuations between glacials and interglacials, some of these animals may re-evolve when the environment favorable to them recurs.
That's an interesting thought - the same animals wouldn't reappear, but some similar creatures might evolve into the vacant niches. Too bad we won't be around long enough to tell.
The polar bear has a short fossil history. It may have gone extinct during the last interglacial because it was distinctly warmer than the present. It could have re-evolved from the brown bear.
Mmm... the books I have on polars (Feazel, Ellis) don't indicate there was any gap. Is there a good source handy?
Up until recently, the oldest polar bear fossils or bones were something like 60,000 years old, if I remember correctly. Recently older ones have been found.
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