Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am starting off with this link to the quest to genetically engineer the thylacine and the effort to reintroduce it back into the wild. Here is a link to a long, but well produced, story about that quest:
At the same time as they are trying to use science to recreate the animal; we also have a very active investigations into the possibility that they were never extinct: https://www.news.com.au/technology/s...b94654a50f5862. The problem I do have with many of the current sightings is that we still lack clear evidence. On the other hand; the investigations have great backing and they are putting out hundreds of trail cameras with the hope of getting new footage.
I'm following the reverse engineering and Cape York stories closely, because I too hope we didn't manage to wipe them off the face of the planet forever.
Ok, so if they do re-create it, then what will be next? We do not have the rules and regulations in place to keep up with the technology.
I
In this case, since mankind deliberately hunted the animal to extinction, one could argue that we already played god. I am curious what drove the government to hunt it to extinction?
I
In this case, since mankind deliberately hunted the animal to extinction, one could argue that we already played god. I am curious what drove the government to hunt it to extinction?
See the section titled "Eradicating a threat" in the following link. The public hated them and (falsely) blamed them for livestock losses, so the government put a bounty on them. By the time it was realized the species was going extinct, it was too late:
But there were other factors involved in its extinction. The thylacine is thought to have gone extinct on the mainland about 2000 years ago, and only a small population survived on Tasmania by the time Europeans arrived:
Quote:
The species was rapidly viewed as a pest and a dangerous threat to livestock, though many of these claims were highly exaggerated. ...
[G]rowing scientific evidence reveals a complex tapestry of forces involved in their decline. Among these are competition with dogs, habitat loss and changing fire regimes leading to population fragmentation, and an epidemic disease that spread through the population in the 1920s.
So the bounty appears to have been the final blow to a species that was already on the way out for a number of reasons. Dogs arrived in Australia about 4000 years ago, and both thylacines and the Tasmanian devil went extinct 2000 years later. Climate change may have been a factor in their (supposed) extinction on the mainland, and/or the activity of dingoes and humans. Both species had low genetic diversity and poor genetic health, which also contributed to their decline.
See the section titled "Eradicating a threat" in the following link. The public hated them and (falsely) blamed them for livestock losses, so the government put a bounty on them. By the time it was realized the species was going extinct, it was too late:
But there were other factors involved in its extinction. The thylacine is thought to have gone extinct on the mainland about 2000 years ago, and only a small population survived on Tasmania by the time Europeans arrived:
So the bounty appears to have been the final blow to a species that was already on the way out for a number of reasons. Dogs arrived in Australia about 4000 years ago, and both thylacines and the Tasmanian devil went extinct 2000 years later. Climate change may have been a factor in their (supposed) extinction on the mainland, and/or the activity of dingoes and humans. Both species had low genetic diversity and poor genetic health, which also contributed to their decline.
What is interesting about that second link is that, even if science can recreate these Tasmanian tigers, that they might not survive in the wild.
On the other hand, should all the searches prove that there are some still out there; then there would be a good chance of reintroduction.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
