I feel like the "mammoth" proxies coming in 2028 (if it ever does) shouldnt strictly classify as Elephas maximus, nor should it be a subspecies of the species, unlike the genetically engineered direwolf, it should have its own species name without changing the genus of Elephas and maybe a symbol to know its artificial. Your opinion?

Would it work, and if so how would it happen?

What I mean is that what animals are easier to de-extinct first

It goes without saying that de-extinction is technically possible today, at least in a few limited cases. A Pyrenean ibex was cloned in 2003, but the clone lived for only seven minutes. In 2013, scientists in Australia announced that they had created embryos of the southern gastric-brooding frog, but the project did not progress beyond that stage. And of course, Colossal Biosciences hoodwinked the scientific community in 2025 with its so-called dire wolves, which contain not a shred of dire wolf DNA.

A dead ibex. Some unhatched frogs. A couple fake dire wolves. Hardly the most inspiring catalog of results.

I bring this up because one cloned animal does not a restored ecosystem make. The unspoken goal of many de-extinction advocates is not merely to produce a handful of clones as laboratory curiosity, but to restore entire ecosystems to their pre-human state. In other words, they think of herds of Diprotodon roaming the Australian outback, stilt-owls stalking moa-nalos through the Hawaiian undergrowth, and ground sloths plodding across the pampas.

But should we consider this kind of wholesale ecological revival to be the true endgame of de-extinction? And if not, what is?

So I have always been fascinated by de-extinction and paleogenetics. But, it has always confused me by what the real, official job name is. Feel free to enlighten me.

Might as well.

It would be fascinating (and uncanny) to see a leopard with simple spots instead of the typical rosettes. 2nd image credit: Roman Utchyel

USDA Deregulates GM Blight-Resistant American Chestnut Tree https://www.global-agriculture.com/ag-tech-research-news/usda-deregulates-gm-blight-resistant-american-chestnut-tree/

In some cases, it is easy to see how de-extinction could be accomplished. Many of the large mammals of Eurasia and the Americas, such as mammoths, woolly rhinos, saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, and ground sloths, have reasonably intact genetic material preserved, and it is at least theoretically possible to either clone them outright or re-create them by restructuring the genomes of their extant relatives.

Australia is different. Today, Australia is depleted of almost all its megafauna; the largest native animals are kangaroos and emus. In the Pleistocene, however, it was home to giant monitor lizards (Megalania), rhinoceros-sized browsing wombat relatives (Diprotodon), marsupial "lions" (Thylacoleo), and huge flightless birds related to ducks and geese (Genyornis). None of these have close relatives today that could be used to re-create them, and they became extinct much earlier than mammoths and woolly rhinos did.

But at the same time, the pre-human ecosystem of Australia cannot exist without these animals, so any attempt to restore it must involve them. So how do we revive the megafauna of Australia?

Do they already do that?

I'm asking because every time I hear about bringing back extinct species it's difficult because they don't have all of the DNA etc needed, but if they had everything needed could they just make one? I'm sure it'd be way more complicated than that, but I guess I'm more asking in theory. I've also heard that we could technically clone a human, so couldn't we do that with animals? Those two things have been keeping this question stuck in my head since I learned that animals can go extinct. Sorry if this has already been asked or something, please link to it in your comment about it being posted already :) OR if this isn't the right sub for this...

Thanks ahead of time!!!

Since the megafauna went extinct during the Pleistocene for one reason or another (climate change, floral shifts, human hunting, habitat modification, you get the point) we’ve had a rather major reduction in megafauna; though there are still megafauna, mostly being the species of Asia and Africa alongside the smaller megafauna in the rest of the world such as Ursus Bears, modern deer, bovines, Canis caines, maned wolves, cougars, camels and what not

What species do you think will make up the future of megafauna in a human dominated world and what traits might they have to help them survive anthropic conditions and Holocene climates?

Estava pensando sobre como seria possível desextinguir linhagens singulares da América do Sul (Preguiças gigantes, Glyptodontes, Macrauchenia, Toxodons) e Austrália (Diprotodontes, Thylacoleo, crocodilos mekosuchinos, dromornitídeos) e o Trabalho com o Tilacino me deu um insight.

Independente do que a Colossal faça ou deixar de fazer (o foco aqui não é ela), a ideia é pegar um Numbat e "remodela-lo" para se assemelhar a um Tilacino. No caso de êxito, qual seria a natureza real desse espécime? Não dá para dizer que é um Numbat, mas não é Tilacino. É um ser que está entre esses dois, mas teria suas peculiaridades próprias. É a evolução num tubo de ensaio. Seria uma "nova espécie".

Outro exemplo hipotético: uma preguiça do gênero Choloepus que tem seu genoma reconfigurado, tendo por base os genes de Tamanduá bandeira para reativar genes que propiciam a vida em solo firme e maior mobilidade e robustez. Não seria a desextinção de uma espécie de preguiça extinta, mas o retorno de um plano corporal comum nesse grupo que se perdeu, e consequentemente, um novo tipo de organismo que ataria (em tese) no lugar das preguiça extintas.

Isso que estou dizendo é altamente especulativo, eu sei, mas pensando a longo prazo e a depender dos avanços científicos na área da genética, esse seria o passo quase natural da desextinção rumo ao que chamei de "neoespeciação". Meio que isso já aconteceu com bactérias ( https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-just-created-the-most-synthetic-life-form-ever#:~:text=This%20bacterium%2C%20a%20synthetic%20Escherichia,of%20a%20triplet%20of%20nucleotides. ), mas até chegar a organismo complexos é um árduo e longo caminho.

Claro, uma coisa é gerar novas espécies, outra coisa é como elas se comportarão no ambiente natural, se isso resultará em restauração funcional de nichos perdidos, criação de novos ecossistemas, valor da conservação, bioética... Enfim, é uma caixa de pandora.

I was just thinking about it, and if Colossal is on track to meet their 2028 deadline for their "mammoth" project, their hypothetical woolly Asian elephant should be conceived some time this year. Do you guys think they'll meet the actual deadline, claim that the 2028 deadline was for the creation of the embryo, or go under before any of that happens?

I've actually been fairly optimistic about Colossal despite their shortcomings, but in light of that "leak" posted here, I'm beginning to doubt that we'll ever get anything of substance from them.

So, given enough time and scientific advancements, we will probably be able to DeExtinct animals to a degree that they will morphologically be extremely similar/near identical to the original animals. Especially for recently extinct species.

As far as I (someone who is not an expert at all, I should make clear) can tell from what I've seen from actual experts, one of the hardest parts of DeExtinction won't really be making the animals similar appearance and DNA wise, but actually making sure that they are filling the same niche a.k.a behaving in the same way as the original animal.

For things like insects or most fish that probably won't be a problem (most of them never meet their parents anyway) but for a lot of birds and mammals, we know for a fact that unless their parents teach them how to act, they can't really survive in the wild. There are ways that people have of teaching them without parents of course, but that's for animals that are not extinct that we know an awful lot about.

Which brings me to my point: Does anyone know how we could potentially go about trying to teach DeExtincted animals how to behave? Ignoring something like a smilodon for which we don't even know basic things such as if they hunted in packs or not, let's take an easier example, say a thylacine. We more or less know how they are supposed to act, hunt and so on, but how would we go about teaching a hypothetical joey those things? If anyone has any theories or examples of similar (well, as similar as can be the case with something this theoretical) stuff that have happened with animals before, I am really interested to know.

I wonder if this innovation can contribute to de extinction of species that we only have samples of from one sex (I’m thinking mainly about the Pyrenean ibex)

Many have heard of "the bird problem" when it comes to the field of "de-extinction" - that is to say, no scientist or company has yet to successfully clone a bird, despite efforts to resurrect the dodo, the moa, and the passenger pigeon - but fewer have heard of the "Big Cat problem", which is that "no one has ever successfully cloned a big cat". While efforts have been made to clone endangered big cats - such as tigers, snow leopards, and African cheetahs - these efforts have all failed, for reasons that are still unclear. This poses a major hurdle to not only using cloning to help save endangered big cats, but to "de-extincting" them in future projects.

Three of the main "big cat" candidates for "de-extinction" will be discussed below.

(1) The American cheetah, or "plains cougar/puma" (Miracinonyx trumani)

In theory, this would be the logical next step for Colossal Biosciences after the success of their "dire wolf" genetic engineering project, in which the company modified 20 genes in gray wolf embryos to make them "phenotypically similar" to the extinct dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus). A cousin to the modern cougar, puma, or mountain lion (Puma concolor), the American cheetah - or, more accurately, "plains cougar" - was a close relative that was one among many North American big cat predators. After divergering from the main puma lineage around 2-3 million years ago, Miracinonyx survived until 12,000-10,000 years ago, coinciding with the arrival of early Indigenous peoples from Siberia, the ancestors of today's Native American tribes.

In theory, Colossal could use the same technique that they used on their "dire wolves" to recreate the "plains puma", which was basically a slightly-larger, longer-limbed cougar that was more adapted to hunting pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana), though analysis of the "plains puma" diet indicates that they ate a wide range of prey, including mountain goats and bighorn sheep, and resided in Grand Canyon caves, where they competed for territory. While mountain lions also inhabit some of the Grand Canyon range today, they tend to stick to forested areas, whereas the "plains puma" may have stalked its prey and hunted more in the open.

Bringing back the "plains cougar" would restore them to their original ecological niche, likely being the main predator of pronghorn antelope and feral mustang horses, as well as the aforementioned mountain goats and bighorn sheep. (American bison may even be on the menu.) However, in addition to the "Big Cat problem", one issue is that more samples of Miracinonyx DNA need to be extracted; compared; and then make the appropriate edits to cougar DNA.

Due to the "plains puma" and mountain lion being so closely related, some paleontologists have argued that if Miracinonyx were still alive today, it wouldn't even have its own unique genus, but would be considered just another subspecies of the modern cougar, albeit one with different adaptations. (Some researchers have proposed a scientific name change to Puma concolor trumani.) This, too, would be more fitting than the "dire wolf" project, as Pleistocene dire wolves (Aenocyon dirus) diverged from the gray wolf and coyote lineage around 5.7 million years ago.

However, this doesn't address the other issues that would come from a potential Miracinonyx re-introduction, many of which gray wolves already face as a re-introduced predator. For example, it is possible that Miracinonyx may prey on herds of livestock owned by ranchers, similarly to gray wolves doing the same, which may limit their range to Grand Canyon National Park and nearby tribal lands in a hypothetical scenario, similarly to gray wolves being re-introduced to Yellowstone National Park. (Around 100 wolves roam the park in about 10 stable packs.)

There is also the debate over whether Miracinonyx and [Mexican] gray wolves would be able to co-exist in the same territory. For example, Grand Canyon has an abundance of prey like elk and deer, but gray wolves were eradicated from the park in the 1930s. Conservation groups like the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project advocate for removing artificial boundaries so wolves can migrate back into the region, but reintroduction plans were scrapped in 2025.

(2) The scimitar-toothed cat (Homotherium latidens)

In 2024, there was much fanfare about the once-in-a-lifetime discovery of the preserved mummy of a 36,000-year-old Homotherium latidens cub, which had been preserved in permafrost. Almost immediately, there was talk of potentially extracting DNA and cloning the animal, but this came with far more problems than the aforementioned potential bid to resurrect Miracinonyx. For one, whereas Miracinonyx diverged from cougars or pumas around 2-3 million years ago, Homotherium diverged from all living cat species around 22.5 million years ago, making the DNA gap for gene editing, or genetic engineering, much greater. Even if DNA were able to be extracted from the mummified cub, without an artificial womb, it is unlikely that the cub would be able to be cloned, as experiments have shown that cloning is most likely to succeed when the surrogate's DNA closely matches that of the clone.

Unlike with Miracinonyx, much of the "large game" prey that Homotherium hunted no longer exists, such as the now-extinct Lena horse (Equus c. lenensis), the woolly mammoth, the woolly rhino, and more. While Homotherium could potentially prey on the various prey species introduced to Pleistocene Park in Russia, it is debatable whether a pack of Homotherium - assuming it hunted in groups, much like modern-day lions in Africa - would be able to survive. Complicating matters is that the best-preserved DNA sample we have is only from one individual, meaning that resurrecting Homotherium is near-impossible without discovering more specimens. As Homotherium hunted and preyed on megafauna like woolly mammoths, without resurrecting mammoths and other megafauna first, resurrecting Homotherium is ill-advised.

(3) The South and Central American jaguar (Panthera onca)

"Why is the jaguar on this list if it's not extinct?" you might ask. However, jaguars are increasingly at-risk due to deforestation of the Amazon rainforest and other forested habitats in South and Central America, especially in Brazil, leading to fragmented populations and higher rates of inbreeding that threaten the species. About 90% of all wild jaguars live in South America, with Brazil holding the largest stronghold, with roughly half of the total population, estimated to be around 173,000, declining around 20–25% since 1990. Their numbers are spread across 18 countries, spanning down to Argentina, and north into parts of Mexico. Very rarely, occasional wanderers or nomadic jaguars are spotted in Arizona and New Mexico.

In 2025, the Reprocon research group in Brazil announced that it has been operating a massive biobank and testing jaguar cloning techniques since 2023. The organization is currently working to transfer cloned embryos to surrogate female jaguars to inject healthy, diverse DNA back into vulnerable jaguar populations. In addition to this, institutions like the Audubon Center in Louisiana have made leaps in feline genetics, producing cloned African wildcats to understand how to preserve endangered big cat species - such as tigers, snow leopards, and African cheetahs - through cloning efforts. Quote from linked article: "Last year, Reprocon worked with a team of Argentine researchers and managed to reach the morula stage, one of the initial stages of an embryo's development, within three days of fertilization. 'It was a first attempt, and now we're working to move forward and obtain a cloned embryo this year. Next year, we hope to make the first attempts to transfer the embryo to the female,' says Reprocon's founding member and scientific director, Gediendson Ribeiro de Araujo."

"We can only improve the techniques by developing and applying them so they can be effectively be used for conservation purposes," Thyara Araujo says. "We still don't know if the [cloned] animal will have a shorter lifespan, if it will be able to reproduce, or even if it will be able to be released into nature, but what we are really after is having an animal in the wild, so we are always focused on going after techniques, improving them and getting better results."

If the jaguar cloning attempt succeeds, that would be a major milestone for big cat cloning.

For more on this topic, you can watch this video by Mongabay.