We've read about projects that intend to bring back extinct species, such as mammoths, thylacines, and quaggas. But so far, there's no Jurassic Park. Can we really bring back a species that is extinct?
Projects that attempt to recreate the DNA of extinct creatures are running into problems. DNA is fragile, and doesn't preserve well in nature. Studying the genes of related existing animals is helpful, but no one has been able to find all the necessary genes for an extinct species. Other projects are breeding existing species to select for traits of the extinct version. This is called selective back-breeding. While it may result in creatures that resemble extinct species, it won't be that exact species. There is also the possibility of cloning an extinct species, but that requires relatively recent preserved cells, and has yet to succeed.
However, the problems encountered so far are not dissuading scientists from trying. But when they do, recreating their environment will be a problem as well. After all, these species went extinct when they could no longer deal with the earth's changing conditions. Read about the various methods and projects that aim to bring back extinct species at Quanta magazine. -via Real Clear Science
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