The idea of bringing extinct animals back to life is intriguing. We could start with a passenger pigeon. But what extinct animal(s) would you like to see brought back to roam the earth, if it was possible? Would your animal of choice be able to literally roam the earth or would diminishing habitat make that implausible? How would your animal fare with present day humans?
I vote for the Carolina Parakeet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Parakeet
I vote for triceratops. Is anyone old enough to remember the book The Enormous Egg with Uncle Beasley?
Thylacines would be awesome, but the idea of getting some passenger pigeons and feeding them to feral cats in Ted Williams’ back yard is extremely tempting.
ooh – dark.
Too dark? Ok, how about thylacines to eat Ted? Oh, or elephant birds to eat Ted. Yeeeessss, birds to eat Ted. Delicious irony.
No, wait. Dinictis. Yes. After all, they’re NATIVE to North America, so he should have no problem being eaten by them.
You’re mean.
Nature vs nurture. Who / what will teach the reversed extinction animals how to behave as their ancestors would. Birds imprint on what’s first seen after hatching. Kittens hand-raised from birth have different attitudes to those with mother and siblings.
Very appealing concept – I’d love to see quagga and aurochs and more – but we can’t even keep extant species from extinction.
I’ve been forever interested in the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. It’s beautiful elusive self. The controversy in all the Avian powers that be to decide whether it is actually extinct or dangerously scarce.
I guess it’s a romantic thing with me – with all creatures – to think that despite our greed and self indulgent human actions – that somehow a life so beautiful could find a way to survive…and that we would NEVER catch it!
http://www.ivorybill.org/
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/
http://ghostbirdmovie.com/previews.html
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/ivory-billed-woodpecker/
I think … I’ll go for the dodo. They were such silly-looking birds, there’s nothing like them alive now, and I can’t imagine anyone would consider them a threat. Imagine trying to herd a flock of them, little fluffy wings waffling, heads a-tilt. It’d be like living in an Ub Iwerks cartoon.
I sometimes think it’d be nice to have California grizzlies back, for instance. Or teratorns, who were very large birds of prey from the Miocene to Pleistocene – one, the largest, likely had a wingspan of up to 20 feet. Imagine that gliding above the California grasslands, suddenly blocking the sun above, shadow scudding along up the rise. Imagine crying ‘Meep!’ and diving for cover. Yeah, maybe not teratorns.
Bealsie2, I remember The Enormous Egg. It was a favorite of mine when I was small.
Since human beings are animals I would guess that I can say that we should bring them back. And if you think that they are not extinct just look at the world and the way the two legged creachers that walk the earth treat each other…….. Give me back an honest, caring human being.
Wow, that’s for calling all of lying, uncaring creatures. Genghis Khan – did he live far enough back that you’d consider him one of those ‘good’ humans? Caligula, would he be one of those ‘good’ humans you’d want brought back? How about Gilles de Rais, the Breton serial killer of children, or Elizabet Bathory, the Blood Countess – they lived in the 14, and 1500s. Stalin died in 1953 – when, exactly, is your cut-off date for when humans went bad?
You’re right. They never were any good. Well, maybe a few of us, but not many according to what I see.
Now you sound like those who are always blaming the ‘irresponsible public’ all the time. Really, most of the populace, even in the majority of less-than enlightened places, are decent enough people. Heck, there are more and more people in China helping prevent some animal cruelty, which shows progress. Honestly, if only the people who support this blog are the good ones, the world would have bombed itself back further than the Stone Age a long time ago.
No one has said woolly mammoth which to me would be the obvious choice because they are too cool. Although Wikipedia says:
So I am not at all sure they would fare any better today and realistically, probably much worse.
My second choice would be the passenger pigeon just because the story of the last one dying in a zoo always stuck with me and made me sad. I’m glad someone else is thinking about them too.
Hey, the Daily Beast copied me.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2013/03/19/10-species-we-d-like-to-see-come-back-from-extinct.html
Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Although a little tip of the hat would’ve been nice! My petition group sent out an EMMA Blast on citizen response and steps to take on the latest BSL try in Tennesee last week. One statewide group and UT Knoxville both copied our Emma Blast in toto and sent it to their lists! It was effective and reached thousands upon thousands. Again…a little
note would’ve been nice! HUGS for all you do!
I’m torn between the thylacine and the Ivory billed woodpecker. I remember a while back someone was supposedly trying to resurrect the thylacine from an alcohol-preserved specimen. Guess it didnt work, never heard any more about it.
My pessimistic self doesn’t want to see any nonhumans brought back from extinction. We kind of suck. But if we didn’t suck and the world was awesome, I’d like to see an auroch.
I was gonna say “No one has mentioned the Tasmanian Tiger/Wolf? Who are these philistines?” And then realized it was actually, I, who was the philistine because I had to Google thylacine.
Giant sloth.
Quetzalcoatl!! Danger from above!
My Vote goes for the Yangtze River Dolphin – but in a different river!
I’d settle for one of the most beautiful animals that is not quite extinct yet, but would be if it weren’t for breeding facilities. There’s less than ?? in the wild left, although many in cages that couldn’t be taken out & released. The TIGER is also one of the 12 Chinese Zodiac signs. Someone else must think they’re special too, huh?
I won’t be long until every last TIGER in the wild will be killed for their coats, bones, teeth & intestines, simply for greed. That’s says something about humans doesn’t it?
Since the vast majority of ALL extinctions on the planet took place before humans were a gleam in a chimpanzee’s eye, I don’t think that humans are more to blame than asteroids, earthquakes, or any climate-related disasters. Sure, now that we have the ability to be completely aware of our actions, and have the ability to modify our impact on the earth, yeah, we’re not doing anywhere near the job we should be doing, but please, stop blaming every extinction on “the irreseponsible public.” Remember, any attempts to save creatures from extinction is being done by those same people.
Dire wolf! They’d be so interesting to study – the history of canines is intriguing. Realistically, not sure if I’d actually want them to come back… it would be complicated… but in my childish imagination, I want them to exist.