{"id":4730,"date":"2022-09-09T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=4730"},"modified":"2022-08-22T06:56:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T06:56:00","slug":"should-we-bring-back-the-thylacine-we-asked-5-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/should-we-bring-back-the-thylacine-we-asked-5-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"Should we bring back the thylacine? We asked 5 experts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n \n Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery<\/span><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nSigne Dean<\/a>, The Conversation<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

In a newly announced partnership with Texas biotech company Colossal Biosciences<\/a>, Australian researchers are hoping their dream to bring back the extinct thylacine is a \u201cgiant leap<\/a>\u201d closer to fruition.<\/p>\n\n

Scientists at University of Melbourne\u2019s TIGRR Lab (Thylacine Integrated Genetic Restoration Research) believe the new partnership, which brings Colossal\u2019s expertise in CRISPR gene editing on board, could result in the first baby thylacine within a decade.<\/p>\n\n

The genetic engineering firm made headlines in 2021 with the announcement of an ambitious plan to bring back something akin to the woolly mammoth<\/a>, by producing elephant-mammoth hybrids or \u201cmammophants\u201d.<\/p>\n\n

But de-extinction, as this type of research is known, is a highly controversial field. It\u2019s often criticised for attempts at \u201cplaying God\u201d or drawing attention away from the conservation of living species. So, should we bring back the thylacine? We asked five experts.<\/p>\n\n