Giant multi-million dollar effort by researchers to bring back to life the decades-extinct Tasmanian tiger species.
His science fiction Jurassic Park it may come true, but with better outcomes for humanity and fauna insist scientists in Australia. The reason for the titanic effort of researchers, amounting to several million dollars, to bring back to nature, to “de-extinct” as they say, the species that has been extinct for decades of the Tasmanian tiger (thylacine or thylacine).
The last known living Tasmanian tiger died in the 1930s.
The team behind the ambitious scientific effort claims the species can be recreated using stem cells and gene-editing technology and the first follicle and could be re-introduced into the wild within 10 years.
The marsupial earned the nickname of the Tasmanian tiger for the stripes along its back – but it’s actually a marsupial.
We have released a 21-second newsreel clip featuring the last known images of the extinct Thylacine, filmed in 1935, has been digitized in 4K and released.
Be sure to check out the footage of this beautiful marsupial. #NFSAOpenOnline #TasmanianTigerhttps://t.co/s3JSAnmFck pic.twitter.com/FSRYXCTTMy
— NFSA -National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (@NFSAonline) May 19, 2020
The team of Australian and American scientists plans to get stem cells from a living marsupial species with similar DNA and then use gene-editing technology to “bring back” the extinct species – or… an extremely close approximation of it. This would represent a major achievement for the researchers attempting it, and requires a series of scientific breakthroughs.
“I now believe that in 10 years we could have our first live baby porpoise since they were hunted to extinction almost a century ago,” said Professor Andrew Pask, who is leading the research from the University of Melbourne.
The population of Tasmanian tigers declined when humans arrived in Australia tens of thousands of years ago and further declined when dingoes – a species of wild dog – appeared. Eventually, the marsupial was hunted to extinction in Tasmania as well.
The last captive Tasmanian tiger has died in a zoo in Tasmania in 1936.
If scientists succeeded in reintroducing the animal into the wild, it would mark the first “de-extinction” event in history, but many scientists strongly doubt that this is possible, calling it science fiction.
As Associate Professor Jeremy Austin of the Australian Center for Ancient DNA commented to the Australian newspaper Sydney Morning Herald the project “is more about media attention for scientists and less about serious science”.
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