De-Extinction

Other notable organizations are supporting de-extinction scientists worldwide to build a roster of

potentially revivable species to enrich the fields of conservation and ecology.

Tauros Foundation in the Netherlands is facilitating a project with Rewilding Europe and European Wildlife to restore Aurochs, an ox that became extinct around 1630.

In 2003, scientists attempted to recreate an extinct variety of wild mountain goat, the Pyrenean ibex. Also referred to as the bucardo, this goat was the first species to survive de-extinction past birth.

Project Lazarus intends to revive particularly exotic, extinct species. One recent example is the recreation of a gastric-brooding frog embryo.

De-extinction is a synthetic biology project that attempts to bring life back to what it was prior to human involvement.

In other words, recreating endangered and extinct species.

The plan of de-extinction technology is two-fold

Potential Risks and Benefits Associated with De-extinction Projects

FIRST

nd

Benefits

Risks

Catalog the genomes of a great host of species around the world

Help restore organisms damaged or destroyed by human activity.

• Ecological partners like pollinators or seed dispersers to maintain current diversity
• Flagship species that inspire habitat protection and benefit other species
• Help maintain organisms that are endangered or threatened
• Benefit to other science fields including agricultural and medical sectors
• Penance for prior extinctions

• The introduced, revived species could have a destabilizing effect on the environment.
• Unintended consequences
• Funnels funds away from current conservation projects
• Harm to the individual animals themselves from the cloning process or starvation in the environment.
• Some species might pose harms to humans

The Sloan study expert group identified public concern as very high for this case given the irreversibility and uncertainties of the impacts of species re-introduction and public unfamiliarity with de-extinction.

Science fiction has also focused on the mishaps and chaos from de-extinction which affects public perception.

De-Extinction is taking shape through the convergence of several disciplines

DE-EXTINCTION

The Process

References & Resources

Ted x De-extinction Videos

http://tedxdeextinction.org/

Resurrecting the Extinct Frog with a Stomach for a Womb

Ed Yong; National Geographic; March 15, 2013

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/15/resurrecting-the-extinct-frog-with-a-stomach-for-a-womb/

New potential of quick DNA synthesis and editing has lead some scientists and conservationists to create a plan for choosing and developing de-extinction projects.

Recipe for Resurrection – Review of the Passenger Pigeon Project

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/deextinction/

De-extinction Candidate Species

Revive and Restore

http://longnow.org/revive/what-we-do/passenger-pigeon/

The Ethics of De-Extinction

Shlomo Cohen; Nanoethics (August, 2014) 8:165-178

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11569-014-0201-2#page-1

“The Great Passenger Pigeon Comeback” is the flagship project for Revive and Restore, a non-profit organization associated with the Long Now Foundation, dedicated to genetic rescue of endangered and extinct species.

Beth Shapiro, an evolutionary biologist at UCSC is sequencing Passenger Pigeon DNA extracted from museum specimens and making comparisons to determine compatibility with its closest relative, the Band-tailed Pigeon. George Church of the Harvard Weiss Institute is also working to revive the passenger pigeon by genetic editing or modifications to then recreate the genome of the passenger pidgeon .

This case study was produced by the NCSU Genetic Engineering and Society Center

The expert Delphi study was funded by the Sloan Foundation.