Carl Zimmer Losing A Species Summary

Carl Zimmer discusses the idea of bringing back a species from extinction throughout his essay. With examples such as the Pyrenean ibex, mammoths, passenger pigeons, and gastric brooding frogs, he discusses how technology and science have advanced to the point that de-extinction is close to being a reality. Zimmer then shifts to the benefits and problems that could arise if we are able to revive an extinct species. As a result, Zimmer raises the question that should we bring back an extinct species just because we can? Even though there is a possibility of bringing back species from extinction, I personally believe that we should prioritize preventing extant species from facing extinction over reviving extinct species. Zimmer introduces
his essay by talking about the Pyrenean ibex and how it faced extinction after Celia, the last single ibex in survival during the year of 1989, died. Jose Folch and his team of reproductive physiologists tried to revive the species by inserting the nuclei of Celia’s preserved cells into a goat eggs that had their own DNA removed. They tried this process 57 times and failed, but one egg, from a hybrid of a Spanish ibex and a goat, was successful. But that success did not last ten minutes long as Celia’s clone died because of a huge lobe on one of her lungs, which made it difficult for it to breathe. According to Zimmer, that clone was the closest anyone has got to true de-extinction. Zimmer then shifts to the idea that the consensus of scientists at the National Geographic Society’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
agreed on, which is that De-extinction is now within reach. He discusses the benefits and struggles of reviving extinct species such as the mammoth. Before its extinction and several of other herbivores, Siberia’s landscape was grassy steppes since the animals broke up the soil and fertilized it with manure to maintain it. Since the extinction of the mammoths and those herbivores, Siberia became a moss-dominated Tundra. So bringing the mammoth back could make Siberia a grassy steppe again. The problem with that is some steps in making a mammoth clone, such as harvesting eggs from an elephant womb and then putting the embryo back in it, has not been accomplished yet, and even if it was accomplished, it would take the elephant almost two years to give birth to
it. Zimmer turns to red-breasted passenger pigeons, which were extinct in 1900.
He talks about how biologist George Church could manipulate fragments of a passenger pigeon’s DNA to manufacture genes for passenger pigeon traits and then place them into a stem cell of a rock pigeon. The rock pigeon’s offspring would carry the DNA of a passenger pigeon but still look like a rock pigeon. The children of those offsprings would have the unique traits of a passenger pigeon. Zimmer states that this method could only work on extinct species that have remaining DNA fragments and close relatives still extant. Then Zimmer introduces the Lazarus Project, which is a group of Australian scientists who tried to revive several species. The species that Zimmer discusses in detail is the Australian gastric brooding frogs. These frogs had a unique method of reproduction, in which the female releases a cloud of eggs for the males to fertilize, then swallows the fertilized eggs without digesting them. After a few weeks, it vomits its babies. While researchers were studying those frogs, they vanished, and ever since, the Lazarus Project has been working to revive that species of
frog. Finally, Zimmer discusses the question of whether we should de-extinct species. He discusses how many scientists consider de-extinction as a distraction from working on preventing mass extinctions. He counters that argument stating that the methods of de-extinction could also help preserve endangered species as well, especially the ones that do not mate well in captivity. But scientists also raised questions about whether the revived species should be released or kept in a lab since it might go extinct again if it gets released in the wild or cause another species to extinction. Zimmer states even though we cannot answer all of these questions yet, it has been amazing how science has reached to this point of debate. Since we are not able to answer those questions yet, I believe we should focus on finding ways to prevent extant species from extinction. Because if we do not focus on preventing extinction, the revived species could return to extinction. After doing that, we can figure out the answers we need to proceed in de-extinction of species.