Let’s start a petition

[texsize]

I saw on YouTube that an extinct species of ferret was successfully cloned.

I think we need to start a petition for the high forehead types to get busy cloning the Carolina Parakeet.

 

[SailBoat]

I saw on YouTube that an extinct species of ferret was successfully cloned.

I think we need to start a petition for the high forehead types to get busy cloning the Carolina Parakeet.

I saw that and it struck me as odd that they would elect to clone such a short life creature and especially one so prone to cancer.

So, 'Carolina Parakeets.' Okay, they truly make more sense than ferrets. No offense to ferret people, just saying.

 

[wrench13]

My vote would be for the Glaucus Macaw, so we increase the number of blue macaws in the world by one species. Or go for a species that would really draw attention if it was cloned. The Dodo bird. Almost no one knows what a Carolina parakeet or Glaucus Macaw was. EVERYONE knows what the Dodo bird was.

 

[SailBoat]

Great choice Al!

But take care, you may be dating yourself as there is an ever growing population of people that do not!

FYI: Kind of like asking someone the time of day and the only thing available is a traditional wall clock -- if its not digital they can't read it.

 

[chris-md]

The value of cloning a species for purposes of repopulation is unfortunately specious at best. I would hypothesize that Inbreeding depression would likely set in pretty quickly wiping them out.

It’s one thing to start out with 100 unique individuals and breed them. Depending on the species involved you can likely outrun deleterious effects of inbreeding depression. You aren’t constantly surrounded by immediate genetic parents or siblings.

Increasing the population via closing would concentrate the gene pool further. It’s hard to outrun inbreeding when your surrounded by scores of genetically identical parents and siblings as potential mates. Too many opportunities to climb backwards on the genetic tree.

 

[SailBoat]

As always, So Very Well Stated!!!

 

[chris-md]

I’m not a genetics expert at all, I hate genetics actually (I’m a classical macro biologist at heart), partly because I found it difficult and tedious. I barely passed. But I have a reasonable understanding of the basics. I could be completely wrong here. But based on what I know that’s how I see it.

 

[texsize]

My vote would be for the Glaucus Macaw, so we increase the number of blue macaws in the world by one species. Or go for a species that would really draw attention if it was cloned. The Dodo bird. Almost no one knows what a Carolina parakeet or Glaucus Macaw was. EVERYONE knows what the Dodo bird was.

Since most of them were eaten getting DNA might be a problem :04:

 

[Noahs_Birds]

I’d love to see Paradise Parrots cloned, they used to be native to my area and the old stockmen around here used to have a few old nests in the termite mounds on their properties until the test of time took over and they rotted away. We already have Golden Shouldered parrots as the closest relatives and are bred with ease in captivity!

Back in the in the 70’s and 80’s there used to be a few schemes with some breeders and bird dealers offering ‘Paradise Parrots’ for sale with a price tag to knock you over! These so called Paradise Parrots, although looked very much like a real life Paradise Parrot, in fact were Golden Shouldered Parrots hybridised with Mulga Parrots.

 

[texsize]

It looks like someone already had the idea.

Warning.... some disturbing images in the video.

[ame="https://youtu.be/CSSCB6mxAeI"]America's lost snow parrot: the Carolina Parakeet - YouTube[/ame]

 

[wrench13]

Something I just found out about cloning that was surprising. Dolly the famous sheep was cloned when she was about 6 yrs old, and sheep live to about 12 yrs. So the scientists expected her to live about that long, but Dolly died when she was 6. Why? Because the cells used to clone her were already 6 yrs old. Cloning did not impart a "new" life for her, and as I understand it, this will be true fro any organism that is cloned. Chris maybe you can elaborate further on this aspect? I was shocked to say the least, assuming a cloned entity would start off as a clean sheet as far as aging goes.

 

[texsize]

I think it may have heard something about that.
I think I understand the problem but can’t come close to spelling the technical words.

 

[texsize]

My vote would be for the Glaucus Macaw, so we increase the number of blue macaws in the world by one species. Or go for a species that would really draw attention if it was cloned. The Dodo bird. Almost no one knows what a Carolina parakeet or Glaucus Macaw was. EVERYONE knows what the Dodo bird was.

Here is something on the Dodo for you.
And I would recommend a book by SM Stirling Conquistador.
Not about cloning but lots on extinct animals.

[ame="https://youtu.be/OSUrUTq5xGU"]Dodo bird not extinct? - YouTube[/ame]

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

How about the Thrydactyl? Oh wait...I already have one..never mind.



Jim

 

[smwboxer]

It was a black footed ferret, not an extinct ferret but they did use the DNA from a long dead animal. This species differs dramatically from the domestic ferret and is not prone to cancers like domestic ones.

 

[TinyHumanGiant]

I saw on YouTube that an extinct species of ferret was successfully cloned.

I think we need to start a petition for the high forehead types to get busy cloning the Carolina Parakeet.

A couple of things...
1) you are referring to the black footed ferret. They were presumed extinct in the late 70s, but were not as the (presumably) last population was discovered in the early 80s. However because they were down to something like 15 individuals at one point, the captive breeding and reintroduction programs still suffer from an incredibly limited gene pool.
2) The entire point of cloning a long dead member of the species was that it would reintroduce a set of alleles (genetic variation) back into the species gene pool that had been previously lost (making them less inbred)
3) as previously mentioned in this thread, Dolly died young. While some of that may have been due to the cloning process, some of it may also have had to do with her living conditions (she was housed in doors her whole life) additionally many other clones have lived normal life spans and (maybe more importantly) their offspring have also lived normal lifespans (including Dolly's offspring) meaning that even if clones live somewhat shortened lives, their value to their species lies in their ability to reproduce, rather than merely in their existence.
4) Cloning mammals is one thing, but cloning birds is something we still haven't managed. It has to do with the developmental stage an embryo is in by the time an egg is laid.
Check out this article:

The Surprising Reason Scientists Haven't Been Able to Clone a Bird Yet

Thanks to their eggs, avians are tremendously difficult to clone. But new technologies may provide a workaround for saving at-risk species.

www.audubon.org

5) I am still in support of this idea, Actually I think it would be super cool! If you get one proof-of-concept parrot species de-extincted others will follow, but I think reviving the Carolina parrot may need to be approached from a bit of a different angle. Check out Revive and Restore, Ben Novak and the passenger pigeon project for their approach. I think something similar could be done using jenday, nanday, suns, and several other closely related conure species that we know can hybridize and produce fertile offspring (by some definitions making them subspecies of each other)... a phylogenetic study puts the Carolinas closest living relative as the Nanday BTW. There is more but I'll stop here.