So the The Pyrenean ibex, a form of wild mountain goat,ibex was extinct. And then suddenly last week it wasn’t. But now it is extinct again. When a species goes extinct a second time, it’s time to give it up, isn’t it?:
The Pyrenean ibex, a form of wild mountain goat, was officially declared extinct in 2000 when the last-known animal of its kind was found dead in northern Spain.
Shortly before its death, scientists preserved skin samples of the goat, a subspecies of the Spanish ibex that live in mountain ranges across the country, in liquid nitrogen.
Using DNA taken from these skin samples, the scientists were able to replace the genetic material in eggs from domestic goats, to clone a female Pyrenean ibex, or bucardo as they are known. It is the first time an extinct animal has been cloned.
Sadly, the newborn ibex kid died shortly after birth due to physical defects in its lungs. Other cloned animals, including sheep, have been born with similar lung defects.
Now, I’m just wondering. Normally, I don’t think there’s a lot to be learned from Hollywood but in this case I’ll make an exception. This always ends badly. Did you guys see Jurassic Park? And here’s the thing guys, in all these movies the mad scientists usually get their comeuppance in a particularly grisly and quick manner. They’re usually usually saying things like, “Hmmm, this is strange. The anomaly has grown teeth far sharper than…what??? Oh noo. Noooooo!!” End of transmission.
And then us hero types like me have to clean the mess up with shotguns, tanks, and tasers.
February 1, 2009 at 4:35 pm
too true. i will make sure to stock up with some extra ammo for the coming attack of spanish mountain goats with asthma and sharp teeth! 😉
February 1, 2009 at 5:10 pm
With tasers? Really?
~cmpt
February 1, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Just don’t pray for the toothy boogers.
— Mack
February 1, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I’ve got just the tank for the job!
February 1, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Just be sure that once you’ve saved the world you sell the movie rights to your story because Attack of The Asthmatic Mutant Ibexes is one I really, really want to see!
Seriously, I’ll pay money to watch it.
February 1, 2009 at 9:28 pm
I dunno. I know JP II was against cloning of all cases, but now he’s dead and burried. So, I don’t really know if there is anything wrong with cloning animals, since they have no souls anyway.
What really irks me is that the slobbering, tasteless idiots known as Austrialians killed off so many types of animals (and even an entire race of humans), wiping them off the planet for all generations. It just seems fitting that if there were a way to undo what these witless morons did, we might be doing the planet a service.
I dunno. But seeing a Tasmanian tiger would be cool.
February 2, 2009 at 12:11 pm
How in the heck did you find this one before I did?
February 11, 2009 at 10:22 am
I’ve got just the tank for the job!
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