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DE-EXTINCTION By: Nick Jeppsen How to Bring Back Extinct Animals To revive an extinct animal scientists would need to recover a sizeable chunk of said animals DNA. The brilliant thing of it all is that we don’t need all of the extinct animals DNA. The reason that we don’t need it all is because we can find modern animals that shared enough DNA with the extinct animal that they can be used as a suitable host. This method popularly known as “cloning” although the process would reconstruct the DNA not duplicate it. That’s why you don’t hear talk of bringing pre-historic species, like dinosaurs, back. Because it is virtually impossible due to the fact that it would be extremely difficult to recover any genetic information due to the fossilization process. Another way to bring back extinct species is to try and “de-breed” said species. For example you could breed selective groups of wolf to encourage primitive traits rather than suppress them. Pros They would help us understand them more. Seeing the animal alive again and setting it in its natural habitat where we could study its behavior would answer questions that we would have no other way of answering. They can help us protect species that are close to extinction Threatened or damaged eco systems could be restored with the help of some of these extinct species. It may also drive people to make more of an effort to preserve the ecosystem. Because after all who wants to make a species go extinct a second time. Technological advancement This would be a huge step in genetic engineering. The more we understand about genetic engineering the better. Cons Is it moral? Some people would argue that we would be playing God. There is a reason that a species went extinct and it would be immoral to bring said species back. Environment We would be putting these animals into an environment that they are not adapted too. The world as we know it now is completely different from the one they lived in. Animal welfare We would be using these species for our own selfish purposes. We would be using them to either learn about genetic engineering at a deeper level or help maintain the ecosystem we are destroying. There is also the possibility that we would bring a species back just because we want to see if it can be done. Health These species may be able to develop or carry diseases that could potentially be fatal to humans. Opinion Before doing the research for this paper I thought I knew what side I stood on when it came to de-extinction but now I am on the fence. Both sides have very valid points. I believe that if we were to use it responsibly we could learn a lot and really benefit from it. But I can also see us taking an irresponsible path where these species that we have created end up in zoos because it would be “cool” for the general public to see them. Works Cited "5 Reasons to Bring Back Extinct Animals (And 5 Reasons Not To) - D-brief." Dbrief. 2013. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. <http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2013/04/04/5-reasons-to-bringback-extinct-animals-and-5-reasons-not-to/#.Vvyjb4-cHug>. "7 Main Pros and Cons of Cloning Extinct Animals." Green Garage. 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. <http://greengarageblog.org/7-main-pros-and-cons-of-cloning-extinct-animals>. "De-Extinction - Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life - Pictures, News, TEDx Conference." National Geographic. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/deextinction/>.