Remember when you first saw Jurassic Park at the movie theatre and, although you had dreams of being a paleontologist, you thought that after the film velociraptors were going to jump out at you in the bathroom?

All right. Maybe that was just me.

But as scientists have recently cloned an extinct animal, my heart began to flutter of the memories. Are those scavenger compys next?

National Geographic Magazine recently reported that findings were revealed in the journal Theriogenology of some extinct animal revival. A bucardo, or Pyrean ibex, was reformed by frozen skin. These skin samples, taken from the last bucardo in 1999 (before a falling branch led to his death), were inserted into goat eggs that were void of their on genetic goods. They were then planted into subspecies of the Spanish ibex.

There were 208 embryos implanted, with a result of 7 pregnancies, and only 1 birth. The bucardo died immediately following birth (later revealed due to lung abnormalities, which is a common issue in cloning).

But these setbacks aren’t putting the process on hold – National Geographic reports that Jose Folch, one of the study’s leaders, plans on trying it again in the next year or two. They’ll just improve their technology used to aid in the process.

Cloning, it seems, is primarily an experiment and not a viable method to bring back a species that would flourish in the future, due to lack of genentic diveristy, and susceptibility to disease and climatic change. And some species (like dinosaurs, for example) are impossible to replicate, as surrogate mothers for them would be impossible.

Image courtesy of ilgiornalista.unisa.it

SubscribeRelated Articles and Favorite Reads

HEALTH | New mini-velociraptor found in Alberta SCIENCE | Green comet: coming to an Earth near you TECHNOLOGY | Meteotek: The camera-carrying balloon SCIENCE | Earliest evidence of human footprints found

Tweet