The revival of extinct animals is associated with a number of problems, including legal

Modern scientists have developed many different technologies and methods that can help revive extinct animals, such as mammoths, dodos and others. These technologies include artificial selection, DNA editing, genome decoding. Experts say that the restoration of some species of extinct animals - only a matter of time, since all the tools for this already exist.

But the recovery process itself raises a number of issues, and not only technical ones. There are legal, environmental and other issues. Moreover, a solution for each problem must be found before the work on the return of extinct animals begins.

As for the revival itself, then, as mentioned above, there are several ways to bring the most interesting species back to life. The fact is that animals do not disappear without a trace, they leave a part of their genome in closely related species. Using artificial selection, it is possible to return extinct animals, conducting a permanent job of crossing related species with the selection of individuals most similar to extinct animals. True, it can be said here that in this case there is no question of a rebirth. Using artificial selection, we cannot bring a quagga back to life, but only create an animal that will be very similar to quagga, but that’s all.
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But if to this method add DNA sequencing , genome editing, then in this case we can already talk about a full-fledged revival, since both the genome and the appearance of the “restored” animal will be similar to extinct relatives. There will be some differences, of course, but hardly too significant.

But one thing to revive the same quagga, and quite another - a mammoth. In this case, DNA editing (CRISPR and others) and the use of a number of other techniques for working with the genome are indispensable. Probably, to restore mammoths on Earth, it will take a long time to work with the DNA of elephants, the closest relatives of mammoths. And it will be really long and expensive work.

A number of other species can be restored by inserting the DNA of an extinct animal into an unfertilized egg of a female of a close species. In this case, you can use mitochondrial DNA, which will revive the extinct species.

But, as mentioned above, the problem is not only in the methods of the revival of animals. There are also purely legal issues that cannot be circumvented. For example, in the USA, animals revived with DNA editing should be checked by representatives of regulatory agencies. Such animals will be considered genetically modified organisms (which is essentially true), and the regulator should conduct a serious study on the interaction of such an animal with the environment.

Another problem - in some countries, GMOs can be patented. And if some researcher wants to do the restoration of mammoths on Earth, he may be faced with the need to pay any company.

Plus, the restored look can fall into the category of “on the verge of extinction” with all the ensuing legal consequences. This is because the revived species will not be immediately numerous, and purely formally it can really be considered “endangered”. In general, the work of restoring extinct animals is not the easiest and most pleasant in the world. Here, a pure scientist may encounter problems that he himself cannot solve.

Anyway, not everyone is afraid of these problems. Thus, a plan for the revival of wingless auk was presented relatively recently, the last representative of this species was seen in 1852. The whole species was completely destroyed by man in a few hundred years.



The revival plan is quite simple - it is proposed to extract DNA samples from fossil remains or samples of bird tissue stored in the vaults of some museums and use DNA samples to revive the species. To do this, it is necessary to introduce the DNA of the arachnid into the genome of the closest relative of an extinct bird, the common auk. And after that, the fertilized embryo can be implanted into another bird, which can carry an egg of the required size. This bird will probably be a goose. The problem is that the wingless aquarium eggs are too large for a normal auk, and the female simply cannot carry such an egg.

In this case, it is not only a purely scientific work. Restoration of the species, as scientists believe, can have a positive impact on the ecosystem of the archipelago, where this guarca used to live. Earlier, representatives of the species Pinguinus impennis inhabited the coastal zones of several islands of the North Atlantic.


As for the mammoths, scientists from Harvard managed to extract the intact mammoth DNA and decipher the genome of this animal. The team of scientists in question previously managed to transfer the mammoth genes to an Asian elephant using CRISP.

So, it is likely that soon revived mammoths, who had been missing for several thousand years, will walk along the earth, and no problems will become an obstacle to their revival.