THAT IS THE QUESTION!!
The advances in Genetic Decoding & Manipulation are occuring so rapidly and dramatically, that we must seriously consider whether or not Extinction of an animal species, in certain cases, will prove to be not permanent, within perhaps only a decade or two.
For the forseeable future, animals like Dinosaurs will remain quite extinct; despite the hype, hopes & desires of Hollywood and like feckless dreamers! Firstly, there is insufficient DNA material to give the full sequence of the DNA code of any creature that long extinct. We simply can not extract it from fossilised bones and other such aeon-old material. Secondly, a closely related living species, to act as a Surrogate Mother, is not available.
Yet there are recently extinct species which do fulfil both the above criteria.
The Thylacine was a wolf-sized marsupial carnivore; its head having a dog-like appearance, albeit the hindquarters were almost kangaroo-like! A number of stripes on its rump gave it the misleading "Tiger" appellation. Until a few thouand years ago, it was common on the Australian mainland, but in historical times it was only known from the island of Tasmania, where heavy hunting was responsible for its extinction. The last individual Thylacine known, died in 1936 in the Hobart Zoo. There is a significant quantity of body tissue preserved; most importantly, an entire foetus. So, a complete sequencing of the DNA is almost inevitable! However, the Surrogate Mother is a greater hurdle. The Tasmanian Devil [Sarcophilus harrisii], despite its quite different appearance, is a fairly close relative of the Thylacine, but it is a much smaller animal. Undoubtedly there will be problems, yet given Human ingenuity, these would not seem to be insurmountable.
Equally important considerations are: that there is still much of its original native environment intact within National Parks in Tasmania; it is generally not dangerous to people; and, if we can tolerate the occasional hen or lamb going into its diet, it would not be an economic liability.
For more details on the Thylacine, I recommend the Thylacine Museum. After I wrote this webpage, I was on-line to check the scientific names, and I discovered that they had a webpage on "Thylacine Resurrection".
[www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/index.htm]
Although the full-sized Woolly Mammoth* died out over ~10,000 years ago, intact or near intact corpses of this creature have been found in surprising numbers, deep frozen in the Siberian Tundra. Once again, a complete sequencing of the DNA is almost inevitable! In this case, the Surrogate Mother would be the Elephant [ie. Loxodonta africana - African Elephant or Loxodonta cyclotis - African Forest Elephant or Elephas maximus - Indian or Asian Elephant].
Despite its size, the Woolly Mammoth does still have its original environment available in quantity & quality. While it is potentially dangerous to humans, so are Polar Bears [even more so] & we agree to live with them.
* [A dwarf form of the Woolly Mammoth survived on Wrangel Island, now part of mainland Siberia, until ~3,700 years ago.]
[www.cmnh.org/fun/dinosaur-archive/1997Aug/msg00749.html]
While there are many sites covering various aspects of the Mammoths of Eurasia & North America, I have not yet come across one which gives a thorough overview of the Siberian Woolly Mammoth. This surprises me!
An Important Thought
My mention of an available environment for a "Post-Extinction Re-Birth" Animal, is something which is often not considered. Naturally enough, we would wish to see the reborn animal roaming free. Yet, suspending reality for the moment, if we could create a functioning herd of Hadrosaurs [Duck-Billed Dinosaurs] or Ceratopsians [Horned Dinosaurs] where would we place these very large migratory animals? And if we would wish to have them in such numbers that a viable population of Tyrannosaurus rex could follow their migrations and feed off these herbivores; well, then we would perhaps need at least half of North America!!
written on 12th & 13th January 2002ad by Tony Sims Štext+formatting.
What on earth is this meant to be?
If you are wondering what the above is: it is J.R.R. Tolkien's invented Tegwar Script. The Font used was developed by Michael S. Elliott of Oklahama City. If you wish to read what I have written in the Tengwar Script: simply copy the text, paste, & then change it into an English Language font.
Hint: You may use the Tengwar Language for non-profit purposes; albeit not for commercial purposes without paying for the copyright. Believe it or not, the entire language is copyrighted!! However, the font is freeware.
As you may have guessed, I have a fascination with fonts!
By the way: This is Stonehenge!!
This is Viking-normal!!