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What extinct species would you clone if you were a billionaire?

Discussion in 'Speculative Zoo Design and Planning' started by DavidBrown, 31 May 2012.

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What species would you clone if you were a billionaire?

  1. Mammoth

    16 vote(s)
    18.2%

  2. Thylacine

    27 vote(s)
    30.7%

  3. Dodo

    7 vote(s)
    8.0%

  4. Passenger Pigeon

    4 vote(s)
    4.5%

  5. Elvis

    3 vote(s)
    3.4%

  6. Megalania

    3 vote(s)
    3.4%

  7. Carribean Monk Seal

    7 vote(s)
    8.0%

  8. Great Auk

    6 vote(s)
    6.8%

  9. Quagga

    10 vote(s)
    11.4%

  10. Moa

    5 vote(s)
    5.7%
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  1. DavidBrown

    DavidBrown Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    If you were a billionaire which species would you most like to clone and bring back to the world?

    This is mainly an experiment to create a poll, but I am interested in your opinion.
     
    DavidBrown, 31 May 2012
    #1
  2. gerenuk

    gerenuk Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    gerenuk, 31 May 2012
    #2
  3. DavidBrown

    DavidBrown Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Please feel free to add "write in" votes for any species that I didn't include in the poll above (I could only put in 10 species).

    The giant lemurs of Madagascar, elephant birds, ground sloths, glyptodonts, diprotodons, marsupial leopards, and many other species could go on the list.

    I didn't add anything older than the Pleistocene because there is at least a small chance of getting DNA from some of these species.
     
    DavidBrown, 31 May 2012
    #3
  4. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    I notice that only two of the species you chose (mammoth and Megalania) wouldn't really fit back into the modern world. All the others could slot back into their ecological niches fairly easily (well, maybe not passenger pigeon....Americans and their guns....;))
     
    Chlidonias, 31 May 2012
    #4
  5. DDcorvus

    DDcorvus Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Missing some of my favourites: Psephotus pulcherrimus and Conuropsis carolinensis
     
    DDcorvus, 31 May 2012
    #5
  6. Pootle

    Pootle Well-Known Member

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    From the list I plumbed for the Mammoth vote. Given the wide free choice I would go for a Woolly Rhinoceros myself.


    (As an eccentric billionaire I would also attempt to bring back the Norwegian Blue Parrot) :D
     
    Pootle, 31 May 2012
    #6
  7. Monty

    Monty Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    How about the Irish Elk
     
    Monty, 31 May 2012
    #7
  8. KCZooFan

    KCZooFan Well-Known Member

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    Ivory-billed Woodpecker all the way, one of the most badass animals that ever lived.
     
    KCZooFan, 31 May 2012
    #8
  9. Brum

    Brum Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Thylacine all the way, doubt Australia would let me leave the country with it though... :p
     
    Brum, 31 May 2012
    #9
  10. deanmo19

    deanmo19 Well-Known Member

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    Maybe Japanese sea lions, sea minks, and great auks.
     
    deanmo19, 31 May 2012
    #10
  11. jbnbsn99

    jbnbsn99 Well-Known Member

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    I vote Mammoth as it is the one species on the list that will have a huge impact on environmental restoration.
     
    jbnbsn99, 31 May 2012
    #11
  12. Pygathrix

    Pygathrix Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Steller's sea cow - we owe it to them as they have the dubious distinction of being the animals known to science for the shortest time before being hunted to extinction.

    I don't know where you are hoping to get all this DNA from though!
     
    Pygathrix, 31 May 2012
    #12
  13. Pygathrix

    Pygathrix Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    The thylacine isn't extinct ;)
     
    Pygathrix, 31 May 2012
    #13
  14. condor

    condor Well-Known Member

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    and Elvis isn't dead either, but I still suspect a cloned Elvis would generate bigger revenue than a cloned mammoth, thylacine or dodo :p
     
    condor, 31 May 2012
    #14
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  15. jbnbsn99

    jbnbsn99 Well-Known Member

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    Couldn't we do better than Elvis? John Lennon, Louis Armstrong, Beethoven?
     
    jbnbsn99, 31 May 2012
    #15
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  16. EvilKittie

    EvilKittie Well-Known Member

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    Freddie Mercury, Da Vinci, Einstein?

    But I would love to see the pygmy mammoths. I just want to see little mammoths wandering europe :')

    Or Moas or elephant birds! That would be nice to see around the place.
     
    EvilKittie, 31 May 2012
    #16
  17. Stefka

    Stefka Well-Known Member

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    Yes Yes Yes!!! :D

    OMG, I would give anything to see them.. such a majestic animal..
     
    Stefka, 31 May 2012
    #17
  18. gentle lemur

    gentle lemur Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Robert Johnson - if the Devil will let us ;)

    Otherwise the great auk, the original penguin (nothing against those cute little Antipodean imitations of course).

    Alan
     
    gentle lemur, 31 May 2012
    #18
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  19. FBBird

    FBBird Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    What extinct species.....

    Gerald Durrell
     
    FBBird, 31 May 2012
    #19
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  20. deanmo19

    deanmo19 Well-Known Member

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    How about the warrah or the Steller's sea cow?
     
    deanmo19, 31 May 2012
    #20
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