Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus)

[Matias]

@Ngala, some comments.

This news comes against all rationality. Comparing possibilities by exemplifying a rediscovered animal (Bettong), missing since 2003 (14 years only) with an animal that has been extinct in mainland Australia for about 2,000 years is too. It presents two reports "beyond suspicion" to justify another insane search for a nonexistent animal. In Tasmania the time of extinction is recent and in the course of that time countless went to the expeditions in search of this animal, not to mention the thousands of anonymous who looked for the Thylacine in search of notoriety and money. The Far North Queensland region is the perfect habitat for missing Australian animals. Around the world, "the supposed sightings of extinct animals are notorious," it is not necessary to exemplify animals regularly seen by hundreds and / or thousands of people in their old areas of origin, after all we all hear and know. Not to mention the animals that Cryptozoology studies, such as Bigfoot. What causes thousands of people to see and propound something that no longer exists or never existed? There is a multifaceted industry that economically exploits the image of animals that have been extinguished in their natural lands, as well as mythical animals. Thylacine is an animal that provokes empathy, desires and dreams to one day see them again, a worldwide appeal, where every newsprint emblazoned on it appears in the headlines scattered all over the world, is a powerful marketing tool.

Undoubtedly, Thylacine is a strong candidate to be the first extinct animal to return. In this field, the more genetic science advances, the more problems and challenges emerge. The diversity of genes, their functions and their evolution in extinct DNA is a task that is still in its early stages. How to teach a Tylacine to behave as such? Clone = a being without identity and without past. How to genetically diversify identical homozygous individuals? The biological resurrection is in its prehistory, it is only a conceptual state, its approach is really sensationalistic and "pseudo scientists" like Michael Archer in order to notoriety and funds for his daring projects say absurd things that only 5 or 10 Years later it will be possible to revive him. Producing and reproducing a living being taken from extinction, taking into account all the biological and genetic criteria that constitute and grounds a healthy and viable being, will still take many decades before something practical happens in this field.

The movie The Hunt (2011) with Willem Dafoe: A hunter is hired to harvest genetic material from the last living Thylacine and exterminate it so that no other corporation gets its DNA. In the last scene of the film, the animal aware of its situation and loneliness seeks the hunter......

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