ESA Ferret Dead 30 Years. Living Genetic Copy Created

[Sytes]

"Elizabeth Ann was born and is being raised at a Fish and Wildlife Service black-footed ferret breeding facility in Fort Collins, Colorado. She’s a genetic copy of a ferret named Willa who died in 1988 and whose remains were frozen in the early days of DNA technology."

Ehhh, wow?

Scientists clone the first U.S. endangered species

A black-footed ferret was duplicated from the genes of an animal that died more than 30 years ago.

www.nbcnews.com

From here out, cryo frozen cataloged any living organism is on the cusp of replication.

 

[406LIFE]

Ehtics of cloning aside, I think this is cool and a hope for the BFF. I spent some time in Meeteetse and another ranch last summer that has BFF and learned from the bios and ranchers their endeavors to help this animal. There's a lot stacked against them and this might just help. Most ESA are not charismatic, but at least this one is fluffy.

 

[marksjeep]

Using clones.... to increase genetic diversity.....

Interesting story. Thx for the link/post.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

So... mastodons?

 

[Addicting]

If they do this to my corpse in 30 years that poor sucker is in for a rough ride and early baldness. Lol

 

[Hunting Wife]

Given there were only 18 individuals when the last surviving population was discovered (pre-Willa), I don’t see how this helps genetic diversity in the long run. These are still post-bottleneck genes.

These stories always give me mixed feelings. Yes, we have some cool technology that might be helpful under some circumstances. But I also feel like people view these technologies as some silver bullet that absolves us from the responsibility to conserve the species we have. “It’s ok if they go extinct now, we can just clone them later.” Extinction is still not a temporary condition, and being able to clone organisms does nothing to address the conditions that made them extinct in the first place.

If the only reason a species isn’t considered “extinct” is because a clone or two exist in a lab or zoo somewhere, what have we really achieved?

Just some early morning coffee-drinking pontification....

 

[dgc1963]

So... mastodons?

They have been working on this for yrs now believe it or not

 

[mtmuley]

This is good news for Montana elk. mtmuley

 

[runningmt]

Dreaming of a Smilodon hunt

 

[MarvB]

So... mastodons?

@mtmuley is loading up RUM rounds as we speak!!!!

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

So... mastodons?

I'm game

 

[LuketheDog]

So... mastodons?

That's all I want to see come out of this genetics stuff, a freaking WOOLY MAMMOTH! Maybe they can bring back some of those wild extinct antelope for @Big Fin?

 

[choc dogs]

Aren’t there a crap ton of movies explaining why this is a bad idea?

 

[mtnrunner260]

Amy viable Irish Elk DNA out there?

 

[Southern Elk]

Did we not learn anything from Jurassic Park?

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

@wllm1313 T-rex thread might be real life.

Best T-Rex Medicine

So dinosaurs have been discovered on a Tepui in South America, at the center of the earth, or we have developed time traveling to the decade before the comet hit. Whatever the case, there is a huntable population of T-Rex and you are going on a DIY solo backpack hunt. What are shooting...

www.hunttalk.com

 

[BigHornRam]

Did we not learn anything from Jurassic Park?

Don't feed the T-rex from your porch?

 

[ccc23454]

What eats Grizzlies? Bring that back

 

[Ben Sellers]

What eats Grizzlies? Bring that back

So you want to hunt in an area with something that is big enough and bad enough to hunt and kill grizzlies? Sounds like out of the frying pan, into the fire to me.

 

[BigHornRam]

So you want to hunt in an area with something that is big enough and bad enough to hunt and kill grizzlies? Sounds like out of the frying pan, into the fire to me.

Bring it on! I'll be dead before the millenials do something that stupid anyway.