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Passenger Pigeon coloured-by Hogyncymru-

30 Animals Scientists Trying To Bring Back To Life

What is the definition of extinct? No longer in existence, is that correct? Animals have gone extinct on Earth for a variety of reasons throughout millennia. New developments in DNA editing methods are prompting scientists to consider resurrecting extinct species. From an Australian frog that swallowed its own eggs to woolly mammoths, scientists are getting closer to resurrecting long-extinct creatures. However, not all extinct species can be revived for example dinosaurs fail on all of these criteria, and thus there will probably never be a true Jurassic Park. Here is a list of some of the animal species that scientists are attempting to resurrect.

Read also; 15 Most Influential Zoologists

1. Woolly Mammoth

Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) – Mauricio Antón-by Mauricio Anton-

The woolly mammoth is an extinct mammoth species that died off around 10,000 years ago. Woolly mammoth DNA fragments discovered frozen in Arctic tundra indicate that this huge creature may return. Scientists hope to resurrect the extinct beast by 2027, according to the biotech company Colossal. The Dallas-based firm secured $60 million in funding in 2022 to continue the massive gene-editing work that began in 2021.

2. Saber-toothed Tiger

Scientists have learned that the sabertooth cat first appeared in the archaeological record two million years ago. Sabertooths spread widely throughout North and South America and are linked to modern cats. However, no real descendants of the sabertooth cat are alive today. Saber-tooth tigers became extinct roughly 10,000 years ago, but the DNA we have may be insufficient to resuscitate them.

3. Dodo Bird

ExtinctDodoBird-by Roland Savery-

Only at the end of the 17th century did the dodo become extinct. The last verified sighting of a dodo on its home island of Mauritius was in 1662, while a 2003 estimate by David Roberts and Andrew Solow placed the bird’s extinction around 1690. In addition to resurrecting the woolly mammoth and the Tasmanian tiger in the last year and a half, Colossal Biosciences added the dodo bird to its de-extinction list on February 2, 2023. They think the effort will open up new ways for bird conservation.

4. Tasmanian Tiger

The Tasmanian tiger, sometimes known as the thylacine, roamed parts of southern Australia until Europeans exterminated the dog-sized marsupial carnivore. By 1936, the last of these animals with tiger-like stripes on their backs had died in captivity. However, Colossal Biosciences based in Dallas, Texas, wants to reintroduce thylacine to Australia through de-extinction. The Tasmanian tiger may be resurrected nearly 100 years after its extinction. Following a statement in September 2021 announcing plans to resurrect the woolly mammoth, Colossal Biosciences has joined with an Australian scientist to focus on the extinction of the Tasmanian tiger.

Read also; 15 Roaring Facts about Tigers

5. Great Auk

Keulemans-GreatAuk-by John Gerrard Keulemans-

The great auk was formerly common and widespread across the North Atlantic. It is now extinct, having been intensively exploited for its eggs, meat, and feathers. The extinct Great Auk (the only flightless seabird of the North Atlantic Ocean) has emerged as a potential de-extinction candidate for marine environments. The great auk cannot be cloned because it is extinct, but its DNA can be used to modify the genome of a razorbill bird and breed the hybrids to generate a species that is remarkably close to the original great auks.

6. Passenger Pigeon

The passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) is an extinct species of pigeon native to North America. The last confirmed the wild bird was shot in southern Ohio in 1900. Around the turn of the twentieth century, the final caged birds were divided into three groups, some of which were photographed alive. Martha assumed to be the last passenger pigeon, died at the Cincinnati Zoo on September 1, 1914. A group of scientists in Sausalito, California, are aiming to reintroduce the passenger pigeon as part of a bigger effort to improve biodiversity by developing novel genetic rescue strategies for both endangered and extinct animals.

7. Carolina Parakeet

Karolinasittich 01-by Fritz Geller-Grimm-

The Carolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis), sometimes known as the Carolina conure, is an extinct species of small green neotropical parrot with a bright yellow head, reddish-orange face, and light beak native to the United States Eastern, Midwest, and Plains states. In 1939, the Carolina parakeet was proclaimed extinct. Though they have been extinct for more than a century, scientists at the University of Barcelona have discovered a way to bring them back.

8. Irish Elk

The Irish elk also known as the enormous deer or Irish deer is an extinct species of deer of the genus Megaloceros that was one of the largest animals ever to exist. The species’ most recent remains have been carbon-dated to around 7,700 years ago in western Russia. Some scientists believe that by utilizing DNA retrieved from fossilized remnants and DNA from their closest living relatives, Irish elk, and other extinct megafauna creatures can be resurrected. 

9. Moa

Moa mock hunt-by Augustus Hamilton-

Moa (order Dinornithiformes) are extinct flightless birds that were once unique to New Zealand. The extinction of the moa happened within 100 years of human settlement in New Zealand, mostly as a result of overhunting.  Harvard researchers believe they may be able to save the small bush moa from extinction.

10. Quagga

The quagga is a plains zebra subspecies that was native to South Africa until it was hunted to extinction in the late nineteenth century. The Quagga Project has been working to resurrect the little-known species. According to Eric Harley, the project’s leader and a professor at Cape Town University, the secret was concealed in the animal’s genome. Testing the remaining quagga skins proved that the animal was a subspecies of the plains zebra.

Read also; 15 Interesting Facts About Zebras

11. Pyrenean Ibex

Pyrenean Ibex-by Joseph Wolf-

The Pyrenean ibex was one of four subspecies of the Iberian ibex, often known as the Pyrenean wild goat. The last Pyrenean ibex died in January 2000, leaving the species extinct. A group of Spanish and French scientists reversed time on July 30, 2003. They saved a bucardo or Pyrenean ibex from extinction just to see it go extinct again.

12. Heath Hen

The heath hen (Tympanuchus cupido cupido) is an extinct subspecies of the bigger prairie fowl (Tympanuchus cupido), a grouse-like large North American bird. The Heath Hen once thrived in habitats ranging from Maine to the Carolinas, but by 1870, it had been reduced to a single population on Martha’s Vineyard (off Cape Cod, Massachusetts), where local officials established a preserve. Since 2014, the Heath Hen has been a Revive & Restore de-extinction initiative. Revive & Restore hosted a town hall-style gathering with the Martha’s Vineyard community to consider reintroducing the extinct Heath Hen.

13. Steller’s Sea Cow

Em – Hydrodamalis gigas model-by Dénes EmÅ‘k-

sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas), sometimes known as Steller’s sea cow, was a gigantic extinct aquatic animal that lived around the Komandor Islands in the Bering Sea. Hunters drove out Steller’s sea cows in the 18th century, fewer than 30 years after they were discovered by Arctic explorers. Perhaps it’s too late to bring back the Sea Cow, but scores of the species have been conserved in museums throughout the world.

14. Baiji River Dolphin

The baiji is a probably extinct freshwater dolphin species belonging to China’s Yangtze River basin. The IUCN lists this dolphin as “critically endangered: possibly extinct.” It has not been spotted in 40 years, and multiple surveys of the Yangtze have failed to locate it. In the absence of the “goddess,” China has been working hard to restore the Yangtze River ecology. Building an ecological society is even mentioned in the Constitution as a goal for national development. As a result, scientific surveys have revealed an increase in the number of Yangtze finless porpoises, another mammal resident of the river. According to Hua, the emergence of the baiji is another sign of the Yangtze’s better ecology.

Read also; 20 Best Facts about Dolphins

15. Elephant Bird

Elephant bird-by Alanis-

Elephant birds are extinct members of the ratite family Aepyornithidae, which was composed of flightless birds that previously inhabited the island of Madagascar. They are considered to have gone extinct between 1000 and 1200 CE, most likely as a result of human activity. This species will likely live again due to an abundance of bones and tissues, as it is a close relative of the surviving Nicobar pigeon.

16. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker

The imperial woodpecker is the Bigfoot or Loch Ness monster of the avian world in terms of elusiveness, so rare and undetectable that the US government proclaimed it extinct. The ivory-billed woodpecker, however, is still alive and well in Louisiana’s woodlands. According to new research, a series of blurry images and observations of the bird, which had its last widely accepted sighting in 1944, reveals that the meticulously secretive woodpecker is still clinging on in the swampy forests of the US south.

17. Labrador Duck

Camptorhynchus labradorius (Labrador duck) (8365390008)-by James St. John-

The Labrador duck (Camptorhynchus labradorites) is a type of marine duck. Labrador ducks were once extinct, but have since been brought back from the brink of extinction by SciiFii before being reintroduced to New England, and the ducks are now prevalent in captivity, even in Cenozoic Park. Because of their black-and-white coloring, they are sometimes known as skunk ducks or pied ducks. Because of successful conservation efforts, the Labrador duck’s conservation status is the Least Concern.

18. Caspian Tiger

The Caspian tiger was a Panthera tigris tigris population found in eastern Turkey, northern Iran, Mesopotamia, the Caucasus along the Caspian Sea, Central Asia to northern Afghanistan, and western China’s Xinjiang area. It was also found in Ukraine and southern Russia until the Middle Ages. It lived in this region’s limited woodlands and riverine corridors until the 1970s. In 2003, this population was designated as a separate subspecies and declared extinct. However, Central Asia may be able to reclaim its tigers.

19. Gastric-brooding Frog

Rheobatrachus silus-by Benjamin Healley-

The platypus frogs are an extinct genus of ground-dwelling frogs native to Queensland in eastern Australia. The genus is remarkable in that it contains the only two known frog species that nurtured their babies in the mother’s stomach. In a world-first, an Australian team of scientists has taken the first significant step toward resurrecting it. They were able to successfully restart their DNA and create an embryo.

20. Tecopa Pupfish

Tecopa pupfish (Cyprinodon nevadensis calidae) is an extinct Amargosa pupfish subspecies. The little, heat-tolerant pupfish was found only in the outflows of two hot springs in California’s Mojave Desert. It became extinct around 1970 due to habitat changes and the introduction of non-native species. In 1986, biologists tentatively declared the subspecies “rediscovered,” albeit it’s possible that what they discovered was a new population of the closely related Amargosa pupfish.

21. Xerces Blue Butterfly

Xerces Blue-by Edward Rooks-

The Xerces blue (Glaucopsyche xerces) is a recently extinct butterfly species in the Lycaenidae family of gossamer-winged butterflies. The species lived in the Sunset District of California’s San Francisco Peninsula’s coastal sand dunes. The Xerces blue is thought to be the first American butterfly species to go extinct due to habitat loss induced by urban expansion. The final Xerces blue was sighted in an area that is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in 1941 or 1943. Two remedies to its extinction are underway: one that involves evolution and one that involves genetic engineering. If either works, Xerces blue butterflies may once again flutter among San Francisco’s sand dunes this decade.

22. Western Black Rhinoceros

The IUCN declared Black Rhinoceros extinct in 2011. The western black rhinoceros was mostly found in Cameroon, but no individuals have been found since 2006. There have been numerous attempts to resurrect the western black and northern white rhinoceroses. Rhino sperm was saved so that females might be artificially fertilized to generate babies. Some attempts were successful, but the majority of studies failed for a variety of reasons, including stress and a lack of time in the wild.

23. Eastern Cougar

EasternCougar-by USG (US Fish & Wildlife Service)-

The eastern cougar, also known as the eastern puma (Puma concolor cougar), is a subspecies designation for cougar populations in eastern North America established in 1946. The US Fish and Wildlife Service declared the subspecies described in 1946 extinct in 2011. However, the 1946 taxonomy is increasingly being challenged. The Canadian Wildlife Service has not taken a stance on taxonomy. Cougars are currently common in western North America, and their range may be growing. Individuals are encountered as vagrants on occasion in eastern North America.

24. Caribbean Monk Seal

The Caribbean monk seal (Neomonachus tropicalis), sometimes known as the West Indian seal or sea wolf, was an extinct species of seal confined to the Caribbean. Sharks and humans were the primary predators of Caribbean monk seals. The established causes of the seals’ extinction include overhunting for oil and overfishing of their food sources. The Caribbean monk seal was last seen in 1952 in Serranilla Bank, between Jamaica and Nicaragua. After a five-year hunt, the species was formally declared extinct by the United States in 2008.

25. Javan Tiger

Javan-Tiger-Panthera-tigris-sondaica-by Răzvan Popescu-

Until the mid-1970s, the Javan tiger was a Panthera tigris sondaica population unique to the Indonesian island of Java. It was hunted to extinction, and its native habitat was destroyed to make way for agricultural land and buildings. It was one of the Sunda Islands’ three tiger populations. It was once considered a separate tiger subspecies that had been declared extinct on the IUCN Red List in 2008. The Javan tiger, along with the Sumatran tiger and the Bali tiger, was subordinated to P. t. sondaica when felid taxonomy was amended in 2017.

26. Hawaiian Crow

Despite reintroduction efforts, the Hawaiian crow, also known as the “alal,” or Corvus hawaiiensis, is a species of bird that is currently extinct in the wild. The Hawaiian crow is currently thought to be the Corvidae family member that is most endangered. In the wild, they have been known to live up to 18 years, and in captivity, 28 years. The Hawaiian crow is regarded as an “aumakua” (family god)by some Native Hawaiians.

27. California Grizzly Bear

California Grizzly Bear Statue Capitol Museum-by Mrbeastmodeallday-

The California grizzly bear (Ursus arctos californicus) is an extinct population or subspecies of the brown bear, also known as the grizzly bear. According to a UCSB researcher, Grizzly bears roamed California until the 1920s when they were eradicated by hunting, poisoning, and trapping.

28. Schomburgk’s Deer

Schomburgk’s deer is an extinct deer species that was once found only in central Thailand. Edward Blyth described it in 1863 and named it after Sir Robert H. Schomburgk, the British consul in Bangkok from 1857 to 1864. Overhunting is considered to have wiped out the wild population of Schomburgk’s deer by 1932, with the last captive one slain in 1938. However, some biologists believe that this species is still alive.

29. Huia

Huia Buller-by JG Keulemans-

The huia (Heteralocha acutirostris) is an extinct species of wattlebird native to New Zealand’s North Island. The last documented sighting of a huia was in 1907, while a likely report occurred in 1924. The resurrected huia birds are on the horizon, as research into resurrecting extinct animals continues.

30. Cuban macaw

The Cuban macaw (Ara tricolor) is an extinct species of macaw belonging to Cuba’s main island and the adjacent Isla de la Juventud. It went extinct in the late nineteenth century. Its relationship with other macaws in its genus was long unknown, but it was assumed to be closely related to the scarlet macaw, which shares several physical characteristics. It could also have been linked to, or identical to, the fictitious Jamaican red macaw. According to 2018 DNA research, it is the sister species to two red and two green existing macaw species.

De-extinction allows humanity to make up for past wrongs done to other species. When the animal species became extinct, the woods lost the primary motor of their regulating cycle and were never the same again. Resurrecting extinct keystone species could thus aid in the preservation of biodiversity and, potentially, ecosystems as a whole.