Is this GREAT news? Bringing the Tasmanian Tiger back from Extinction...?

I see no problem bringing back recently extinct animals whose habitat still exists AND whose extinction humans caused in the first place. That other person saying if it could not survive before, it could not survive now obviously knows NOTHING about how the Tasmanian Tiger or the Dodo became extinct in the first place..completely by humans killing them. I think that these animals would probably do quite well in their natural habitat if they were protected by law. Trying to bring back other animals such as Saber-toothed Tigers etc..would be bad..they no longer have a place in the current ecosystem.

Yeah I don't have a problem with it if it's anything like the same methodology being considered to save the northern white rhino from going extinct. As for the prehistoric animals, if there is an ecosystem available that will support their needs and if their presence is not a negative thing for other people or animals then I suppose it's fine. The only thing I'd say is that if the process required to create healthy animals necessitates "mistakes" that create animals that are miserable due to defects etc. then it would be unethical. But if the animal welfare issues (not just of the creature being bred) are taken into account at all stages then I think it's fine.

The one thing nobody has stated is the impact of reintroducing an animal (into a habitat it failed to exist in, presumably) would have on the food chain. It could be a disastrous interruption.

Reintroducing, say, a new predator to the mix would potentially throw everything out of whack.

Of course, this is after a male and female of the species had the ability to reproduce and succeed in the first place. There are so many roadblocks to what these zoologists/biologists are doing, that it's hard to really believe that it's possible for long term success.

And what would the benefit of it be? Is this going to cure cancer, feed the starving, or lower the crime level? I think we already have projects so much more worth our time and energy that it seems foolish to even pursue such an endeavor.

I enjoy studying zoology and evolutionary biology and I would love to be able to see a thylacine with my own eyes.

I don't think that this is a success yet, but it is a step in that direction. Also, repopulation isn't that good of an idea yet. These animals were hunted to extinction as hazards to agriculture and their "niche" has already been overfilled by dingos.

On those older animals such as saber-toothed cats and even dinosaurs, I don't think it is going to be a possibility in the near future as they died out long before the thylacine. Plus, those animals did not die out because of over-hunting, so the discussion of ethics is a much more valid one with them than with the thylacine or passanger pidgeon or dodo. I think since it is entirely our fault these animals are extinct, we should bring them back, atleast for research or zoos. I don't think the Jurrassic Park scenario is a real concern, because we are starting with more recent animals that are easier to predict. Besides, while behavior of dinosaurs is mostly unknown, they probably did not behave at all like they did in the books and movies. They took a lot of liberties with the dinos, especially with velociraptor and dilophosaurus.

Thiayacines (tassie tigers) were marsupial large dog size predators from Australia . It would be great to have then back in their old habitats in mainland Australia and its islands. only became extinct due to competition with dogs, dingoes, foxes, feral cats and mostly human trapping/ shooting/ poisoning.

though this eventual cloning sounds possible i believe it very improbable. Reasons -- 0ver 40,000 genes in both human and mice genomes. So very costly to resurrect 1 to several geans at a time. then putting them altogether in a single Tassie Devil egg and growing in a surrogate devil. all genes might still be there but all of the chromosomes have deraveled and genes from many thousands of Dna pragments need to be rejoined. Even if this is technicaly possible, all of the strands must be in correct order. Like reglueing a shreded how to manual. Love to see one or more though plus Dodo and Wooly Mammoths, all killed off by us.

"Jurrasic park" was based on the same premice - it was possible to take fragments of DNA and reassemble a complete genome. Unfortunately this is not quite as easy as simply putting a jigsaw puzzle together. As science currently stands, genomes can be deciphered but as far as splicing genes is concerned, the technology is still quite primitive. Scientists are still essentially children who can disassemble alarm clocks but can't quite manage to reassemble them.

This is great news.Remember,regenerative DNA technology + fat American greed heads=disaster.Real life Jurassic part stuff.Mother nature selected those species for extinction for a reason.

It's a lo-oo-oo-ong way from extracting dna from an old tissue sample to re-creating the whole animal. Somebody needs to bone up on their science studies...

Why would you want to bring something back to life that couldn't survive before. If it didn't survive before, it will not survive now.

I believe it is dangerous to mankind to play God. Also how can it benefit mankind to have another mouth to feed on this earth?

If it can be done, then man will do it and this is the only reason bringing these extinct animals back to being. It is an ego trip.

it's all over in 2012 anyways.