Opponents have pushed back even more strongly against claims that de-extinction could be a widespread solution, pointing out how bringing back one species at a time would not be enough to curb the Earth’s losses. Even if the de-extinct dodos did act more or less like their extinct counterparts, it’s hard to know how a habitat that hasn’t had any dodolike birds in it for 350 years would be affected by this new species. Some de-extinction advocates have also positioned their projects as potential long-term solutions to combating mass biodiversity loss in general.īut many ecologists and ethicists have highlighted the uncertainty around introducing these novel creatures into the wild. “Bringing back” passenger pigeons could help restore forests in the northeastern United States, for example, while woolly mammoth proxies could help restore the Siberian steppe and keep permafrost frozen. Supporters have argued that de-extinction will eventually help restore ecosystems. They’re certainly amassing a fortune to make it happen: Since its founding in 2021, Colossal has raised over US$225 million from tech investors, Paris Hilton and even a CIA-backed venture capital firm. And yet Colossal seems confident, saying it hopes to de-extinct Tasmanian tigers by 2025 and woolly mammoths by 2027. Nor have any other scientists, unless you count the team that cloned the Pyrenean ibex in 2003 – but that clone died within minutes. Rather than “bringing back” lost species, it’s more of a process to create their high-tech look-alikes.Ĭolossal hasn’t successfully created any de-extinct creatures yet.
What de-extinction is and isn’tĭe-extinction is not exactly what it sounds like.
One of us, Ben, is a professor of environmental ethics who explores the ethics of de-extinction in his 2018 book “ The Fall of the Wild.” The other, Risa, is a doctoral student researching how de-extinction might change public perceptions about extinction, especially its emotional impact. The company says its goal is to create a population of undead dodos to put on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, where the hefty, flightless creatures lived before humans drove them to extinction in the late 1600s.Īs environmental humanists, we study the morality of different conservation interventions, and are interested in how de-extinction might change the ways people think about their responsibilities toward nature. What can scientists possibly do to stop that trend? For some, the answer is to “de-extinct.”Ĭolossal, a biotechnology company that garnered headlines for its plan to “de-extinct” the woolly mammoth, is now attempting to “bring back” the famously dead dodo bird.
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