6 Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloning Extinct Animals

We have lost so many animals because we failed to protect them (mostly because of our own selfish desires). Although some of these animals have been declared as gone for good, recent advances in science have shown that we can bring them back to life. Animal cloning isn’t exactly new as some species (not extinct) have been created in the lab. Yes, they may not have lasted long in this world (Dolly the Sheep for instance), people are holding hope that maybe one day we can recover those we’ve lost.

But bringing back an extinct animal raises concerns as well as praises. As such, it’s about right to look back on the advantages and disadvantages of cloning extinct animals.

List of Advantages of Cloning Extinct Animals

1. Bringing back an extinct animal can offer important scientific knowledge.
Right now, there are a lot of resources not available to us when it comes to knowing what happened to the species we’ve lost. We do have a few but often times those aren’t quite enough to present a complete picture of animals long gone. When we can resurrect them successfully, we have access to insights we haven’t had before.

2. Cloning an extinct animal signals a huge step in genetic engineering.
Scientists have tried bringing back a Pyrenean ibex (a kind of mountain goat) using frozen tissue but it was unsuccessful. The animal was declared extinct in 2000 when the last of its species was found dead in northern Spain. However, scientists were able to use skin samples in liquid nitrogen. Using that DNA, they cloned a female ibex but it died shortly after birth because of lung defects.

3. Bringing extinct animals back can help the environment.
The world we live in now is full of threatened or damaged ecosystems. Scientists believe that introducing extinct animals that can restore these ecosystems back to life would be very beneficial.

List of Disadvantages of Cloning Extinct Animals

1. The exploitative nature of man will likely kick in.
We have lost many animals (and are on the verge of losing more) because we want to profit from what they have to offer. As such, poachers don’t care whether they slaughter a few or a many because they will definitely earn a lot by taking life away from precious animals. This is happening in the world today and who’s to say it wouldn’t happen again when we finally succeed in bringing back extinct species?

2. The environment is far different from theirs.
The world has changed a lot and bringing an extinct animal back to this period may not really bode well for them and us. For instances, the food sources of these species may have gone as well and what do we do to keep them fed? In short, the changes in the world may affect the roles we want them to play in the environment.

3. The de-extinction of species raises a lot of concerns.
Bringing back a long-dead animal can change priorities in other fields of science like medical research. Cloning an animal successfully also raises concerns regarding the conservation of today’s endangered species.

Moral questions are also raised when talking about de-extinction. For instance, are we playing God by bringing these animals back to life? Do we see any potential consequences by doing so?