Community Chat

[brii]

On 3/6/2015 ktlynam said:

I think we need to focus on saving the precious species and rapidly disappearing environment that we have left rather than introducing an already extinct animal species into our environment where it would have to fight for deplenished food sources.

I agree.

This falls under: just because we can doesn't mean we should.

[qualitygal]

Nothing pops into my mind right now, as to why one might be needed, but that's just me.

[Cakers1]

On 3/7/2015 Stella Dallas said:

Just because they can doesn't mean they should. Some animals go extinct for a reason, and I don't mean the ones who are lost due to human interference.

Agree and also said that there are more recent extinctions that might be better looked at, but the genetic material probably isn't there.

[LucyGoose]

So many species are going extinct, including microscopic species that most people never even see. Instead of bringing back the woolly mammoth, I wish we could make the common flea extinct.

[Puzzle Piece]

Cloning to me is somewhat cruel. The 'cloned' is all alone with none of its kind around to relate to or to interact with.

The time for the Wooly Mammoth is over with. It is extinct, let it rest in peace.

[Elstongunn]

On 3/6/2015 NoelSeven said:

On 3/6/2015 ktlynam said:

I think we need to focus on saving the precious species and rapidly disappearing environment that we have left rather than introducing an already extinct animal species into our environment where it would have to fight for deplenished food sources.

If scientists were able to recreate a wooly mammoth, it wouldn't have to fight for food. It would be on a carefully guarded reserve.

And we would be learning how to care for the animals we have now, it's not a waste of time.

Like stem cell research, poo-pooed at first, and now Stanford Hospital is on the verge of growing a new heart for those in need, from a person's own stem cells.

Well, I'm probably over-thinking this! But I am still trying to rationalize this and why they would do it other than "because we can" or the "cool" factor. They could take existing species on the verge of extinction, put them on a well-guarded reserve and try to clone them to save the species. Or just letting them breed naturally. I just don't see the logic of doing this to a long-extinct species when we have more immediate needs.

And how would cloning a Mammoth help us learn how to care for the animals we now have? Don't we already know how to do that...by stopping destroying their habitat and breeding grounds, and hunting them?

I don't think stem cell research was ever poo-pooed; it was hotly debated on moral and ethical grounds, but I don't recall it ever being poo-pooed as a folly or a useless/pointless exercise.