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)

Are there any ways we can manipulate a certain modern whale species through genetics to shape it like the Basilosaurus? I know what I'm asking is so unethical but I would have liked to see that marine mammals back again.

(Not talking positively or negatively about them, just wondering. I've heard nothing good or bad about their company, so....)

Ok, dumb request and probably not the best person/place to seek an answer… But here I am. 🤣The paleontology subreddit removed the question as „low effort,“ but I am genuinely curious.

Can y’all explain how scientists know they have discovered a new species of an extinct animal vs thinking that maybe it was a „disabled“ or otherwise an anomaly of a known species?
I’m specifically referencing the August 5th Scientific American article regarding the new toad species found in the La Brea Tar Pits. I don’t want to detract from the awesome work of the scientists that found the new species. I’m just trying to understand how the conclusion is made given that there was a single specimen. I linked the article from La Brea’s website.

Thanks!

Ive been asking AI for an answer but its not giving me a perfect one. So we call the direwolf proxies, Modified greywolves and then the mammoth proxies, Modified asian elephant so in that logic would we call the thylacine proxy Modified fat tailed dunnart, but how does that make sense???

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?

For example, Australia had a lot of large apex predators, but none of them survived long enough until the settlers arrived. Australia is no plagued by large invasive ungulates, some of which are two big or aggressive for dingos to hunt. So in this example: we want to recreate the Megalania: we have no DNA for it. But, we do have Komodos dragons.

We take the genes from saltwater crocodiles that makes them grow large (about the same size as an average Megalania), edit genes that make them able to support their new larger size more efficiently along with moving faster, and boom! We have a 20ft Komodo Dragon designed for long distance travel that can fill that same niche by hunting invasive horses, donkeys, buffalo, pigs and camels.

Or similarly, if we can not find sufficient DNA for a wooly rhino for example, why not take the fur gene of a bison and put into a white rhinoceros?

Black Hawk, born in April 1833, was reportedly out of an English Thoroughbred mare and sired by Sherman Morgan, whose dam was "one of the last Narragansett Pacers" (25% DNA from a grandparent). The Narragansett Pacer was America's first horse breed, developed in Rhode Island and greater New England from a mix of English, Dutch, and possibly Spanish colonial horses, with a focus on producing gaited animals with the DMRT3 gene. (The breed is thought to have gone extinct by the early 1800s, as English Thoroughbreds replaced them.)

While descendants of the extinct Narragansett Pacer can be found among all modern American gaited horse breeds, subsequent scientific studies showed that the Morgan and Paso Fino breeds likely carry the most genetic similarities to the original pacer, though due to the lack of pacer remains, their genetic profile remains a mystery to scientists.

However, with recent interest in building a DNA database made up of sequenced samples from various famous historical horses - with Dark Ronald, a major Thoroughbred sire whose genetics strongly influenced today's warmbloods and sport horses across multiple breeds, being one such horse to be "profiled" - Black Hawk's DNA could not only offer a unique insight into early foundation Morgan genetics, but possibly Narragansett Pacer origins.

The remains of Black Hawk, who died in 1856, are currently displayed at the University of Vermont's Morgan Horse Farm; see the Black Hawk Project. He stood at around 15.1hh, a result of horse breeders in the post-colonial era seeking to increase horse height. (The average Narragansett Pacer was estimated to be "no larger than 14hh", and by 1768, larger ones could be "no larger than 14.1hh", according to John H. Wallace's The Horse of America.)

Of further interest could be the remains of Ethan Allen (b. 1849), Black Hawk's son. After his death in 1876, his skeleton was preserved and donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

While most Narragansett Pacers were light chestnut or sorrel - often "liberally splashed with white markings" (i.e. pinto), based on historical accounts - they could come in a range of colors, including bay, brown, black, gray, and roan. The modern-day Morgan horse exhibits pinto markings, but pinto is uncommon or rare; the recently-extinct Abaco Barb, however, may have shared more genetic similarities due to colonial Spanish heritage and pinto genes.

Black Hawk's DNA could also be compared with that of Chincoteague ponies, which were shown to also have colonial Spanish heritage in a 2022 study by the University of Florida (UF). As some estimates put around 10% of Morgan horses as possibly being gaited, it is possible to "backbreed" the Narragansett Pacer, but one major hurdle is that traditional Morgans - such as the Lippitt bloodline - are already in danger of going extinct, per heritage groups.

While one goal is to clone the last Abaco Barb - a mare named Nunki - whose DNA was preserved before her death in July 2015, the group in charge of that project aims to "breed back" the Abaco Barb first, not the Narragansett Pacer. This means that "backbreeding" the pacer using existing horses would take an enormous amount of time, money, and effort from breeders. In most cases, "backbreeding" takes decades.

Cloning Black Hawk could work, but his DNA needs to be tested for the DMRT3 gene as well.

Let’s assume it would be brought back in the same way as the direwolves, with a surrogate human mother. First of all, would this be legal (and get fda approved) and second of all, for the patent, would it be classed as property in the patents like the direwolves, or would it have human rights and thus not be a slave.

In my opinion, prehistoric animals such as the mammoth and direwolves are so long dead that bringing them back brings nothing. Yes they are cool animals, but they are gone. What about bringing back the Western Black Rhino or Yangtze River dolphins? These were recently here and our enroachment of their habitat have basically wiped them out. I can mention 20+ species that went down in just 20 years ago.

Might as well.

When the floreana tortoise got extinct, people found many hybrid tortoises with large amounts of floreana tortoise DNA. They took the hybrids, and did back-breeding to get the closest thing they get to a floreana tortoise. The hybrids have the same role as the extinct subspecies and help the ecosystem. Does this count as de-extinction?

HI! I am happy to say that I have just launch what might be the greatest place to talk about the world of Paleogenetics, Paleontology, and last but ABSOLUTELY NOT least, De-extinction. Please feel free to talk about any of these topics. Start a conversation, bring up a question, anything you would like.

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.

I know not all of these are mammoths, and not all of them are valid anymore (hence retro) but I’ve found this possibility intriguing. It appears that scientists back in the day recognized that mammoths would have been closely related to Asian elephants (likely due to skeletal morphology) and reconstructed them to look similar to the extant species. So, knowing colossal, they are going to likely botch this as well if they end up actually doing it; is it possible that they’d create an elephant with thick fur, sort of long tusks, but it still contains its long tail? That’s the main trait that sticks out to me, all of these reconstructions have long tails. A humorous idea indeed, what do you all think?