• Question: Is there a way to bring creatures back from extinction?

    Asked by to Fiona on 17 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Fiona McLean

      Fiona McLean answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      Yes! This has in fact already been done! In 2009 a Pyrenean ibex (a type of wild mountain goat that became extinct in 2000) was the first extinct animal to be brought back. Scientists had collected DNA from the last ever Pyrenean goat. They then cloned this DNA and put it in a domestic goat which acted as a surrogate mother. The baby Pyrenean goat was then born alive but later died due to it’s lungs not working properly.

      However, this type of research gives hope that animals which are endangered now will not become extinct. And in fact we could even bring back some animals. This is great news, as long as scientists don’t try and bring back dinosaurs because we have all seen what happened in Jurassic Park…

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