Do we really need this?
Fresh effort to clone extinct animal
Scientists in Spain have received funding to test whether an extinct mountain goat can be cloned from preserved cells.
The bucardo became extinct in 2000, but cells from the last animal were frozen in liquid nitrogen.
In 2003, a cloned calf was brought to term but died a few minutes after birth.
Now, the scientists will test the viability of the female bucardo’s 14-year-old preserved cells.
The bucardo, or Pyrenean ibex, calf born through cloning was an historic event: the first “de-extinction”, in which a lost species or sub-species was resurrected.
Too much money and time is spent on this type of thing. The ibex is extinct, let her rest in peace. Obviously it became extinct for a reason.
There are more important things like world hunger, poverty, lack of education, health, etc that could make better use of these funds.
To me the idea of de-extincting is a backward step in evolution, what’s next? Jurrasic Park!