De-Extinction

Exactly as the word suggests, de-extinction means resurrecting a species

back from the grave of extinction. De-extinction has been a topic of
conversation among geneticists, biologists, and conservationists for several
decades, and thanks to the creators of Jurassic Park, its been in the publics
imagination for a couple of decades as well. Like Jurassic Park, de-extinction
has only been a fantasy, until now.
Discoveries and progress made in genetics and cloning have made deextinction a likely possibility. The largest leap in cloning is arguably the
creation of Dolly the sheep from an adult somatic cell. This shows how
geneticists are able to take and adult species cell, and reverse engineer it to
make it into an embryo. Similarly we would be able to take DNA of an extinct
species, and put it into a living cell that has had the DNA removed, which
could then be formed into egg, and sperm cells. This is possible because of
our research and progress with stem cells. With which we could make it into
an embryo, and put that embryo into a surrogate mother, and then if it came
to term, we would have ourselves a revived species. If there are holes in the
DNA, scientists could repair it because of our knowledge and research with
genomes. Also, if a close enough/ large enough, (depending on the species)
surrogate mother could not be found, we could slowly modify the DNA of the
nearest relative and slowly add in the DNA of the species, until we have all of
the traits of the original species.

In the last few years the discussion hasnt been mainly focused on if we
could, (we believe we can) but if we should. Species have gone extinct for a
number of reasons. Those including human influence, such as hunting,
habitat destruction, disease, and pollution to name a handful. Some of these
reasons for extinction were deliberate, while others were not. Of course there
are species that became extinct from causes not influenced by humans.
Almost exclusively, the debate only involves those species we had a hand in
destroying. Some say bringing a species back from the dead is humans
trying to play God, and its been said that we already have by causing their
destruction from off the face of the Earth.
There are many pros and cons that fuel both sides of the debate of if we
should try to de-extinct a species. Beneficially, bringing back a species from
the dead could revive ecosystems where they once lived back to thriving.
This would help all other plant and animal species in that particular
ecosystem. A good example of this is the mammoth and the tundra. The
tundra used to be fertile with grass and some other plant life, now it is
overgrown with moss. Some scientists believe reintroduction of mammoths
would revive such fertility in the tundra due to the mammoths grazing.
Another benefit to having a species back, we would be able to study them,
and learn more about this world we live in, and how life works. Also, since we
get materials for medicines and other products from other species, this could
help us further our knowledge and possibilities for better treatments.

An issue we have with de-extinction is that it is currently very expensive. If

we did bring a species back, it may not have a suitable environment to live in
anymore, due to our destruction of its original habitat or pollution that
caused it to become extinct in the first place, therefore becoming extinct just
as fast as we brought it back to life. This would end up being a huge waste of
money, time, and energy. Another problem we may encounter is one we
have dealt with reintroducing species to habitats they naturally live in is
poaching, which could potentially make them extinct again. Some also say
that through our genetic modification we would only be creating some kind
of hybrid species that doesnt have a part in any ecosystem. We have forced
Mother Natures hand, to find evolutions to take the place of these extinct
species, in which we may not need these extinct species anymore to fulfill
their purpose in those environments.
I think de-extinction is a fair debate of our time, but we are wholly not ready
for the consequences. We have other problems that need to be solved before
we try to re-create a lost species. Before we bring a species back, we should
clean up our planet from our pollution of it. We should find sources of clean,
renewable energy so we arent forcing the extinction of more species. We
also need to mature as a species ourselves, that we wont poach more
species to extinction, and a revived species back into extinction. By the time
we figure these issues out, the possibility of de-extinction may become less
expensive because of advances in technology. Either way, I feel like we
should do what we can to repair the damage we have made by bringing back

those species we drove to the grave. And on a more personal note, I think it
would be a neat achievement, as well as inspiration to what we can do.
Quite simply, I believe that de-extinction is a good thing for the biodiversity
of our planet. Which is beneficial because it helps the world thrive as a
whole. Lets improve ourselves and the world around us, to be ready for this.