Should extinct species be brought back to life?

Should we bring extinct species back to life?

Sometimes whole species of animals or plants become extinct due to the changes in their habitat, predators or disease. But over the last 500 years, human actions have forced over 800 species into extinction, through cutting down forests, polluting waters, hunting and other man-made changes to the environment.

Animals like the dodo, the Tasmanian tiger and the Quagga have all disappeared. And today, several much-loved animals are very close to extinction, including species of panda, rhino, orangutan and turtle. Scientists have radical ideas for bringing species back from extinction and one of the main ones is cloning. Some scientists claim we could even clone a Neanderthal human baby from ancient Neanderthal DNA. Scientists brought back an extinct species of goat in 2009 through cloning, but sadly it died only seven minutes later from lung defects.

A big concern is that extinct species could nurture viruses that our modern ecosystem or immune systems are just incapable of dealing with.

Should we bring extinct species back to life?

Should we bring extinct species back to life? Over the last 500 years, human actions have forced over 800 species into extinction.

We hunted the dodo into extinction.

I think animals have gone extinct because of all the pollution that we've made.

It's ridiculous how people think it's OK to cut down forests.

We've destroyed animals' natural habitats because we're building flats and stuff.

Rhinos have been hunted for the horns.

Yeah, it's got medical purposes and it's good as jewellery and things like that. But that's not the point, is it? They shouldn't be extinct because of people wanting jewellery and medicine.

You kind of take for granted sometimes that they're nearly extinct and they could nearly be all gone soon.

Scientists have radical ideas for bringing species back from extinction. And one of the main ones is cloning.

Cloning is a great idea for animals that are nearly extinct, but maybe not fully extinct. Because -

Like dinosaurs and things like that?

Yeah, they died for a reason. Nature's cause.

Say bees - I swear bees are going extinct and we need those. So we can bring back the population of bees and then they will pollinate with the flowers and that will actually help us, that will benefit us.

You know, if we actually clone something and bring it into the world, you could hunt everything else into extinction.

I don't think we should clone the animals that we have made go extinct, just in case we don't know the full extent of cloning animals, like the diseases and stuff.

So, what about bringing back Neanderthal humans.

What if we have a war with them, in a way, if you know what I mean? So, we might have arguments.

Yeah, I think we're fine as we are, because we've already got enough arguments going on between countries.

Can you clone personality? Because that's not a part of your body, is it?

Yeah, so they person would be different, but they would look the same.

I don't think we should bring extinct species back to life, especially because some of them are T. rexes that are going to eat you up, so I don't think we should bring extinct species back to life.

I think that we should bring extinct species back to life. Some of them we did not wipe out, but in the modern ones - they could survive in this environment and they do deserve a second chance.

I think we should bring extinct species back to life, depending on the species of animal that it is. For example, if bees are going extinct and we need bees for pollination and for the trees and stuff to grow - because we get oxygen from trees. So, I think if they were to go extinct, then we would have to bring them back for our own survival. But if it was an animal, say for example a penguin, we don't need penguins to survive, so I think between the two we choose the bees because it is necessary for us to live, rather than the penguin.