18 replies to this topic

[Still Waters]

www.australiangeographic.com.au said:

THE LARGEST PRIVATE COLLECTION of Tasmanian tiger artefacts sheds light on how the dog-like marsupials were driven to extinction.

The permanent exhibition on the thylacine has opened at the Wilderness Gallery at Tasmania's Cradle Mountain, and includes relics such as a model of a thylacine skeleton and a rug composed of eight skins.

"It's marvellous stuff: decorative objects like rugs are rare, because people didn't like the animals, so they weren't keen to preserve bits of them in their houses," says Kathryn Medlock, curator of vertebrate zoology at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, which jointly developed the exhibition.

The thylacine has become an Australian icon since its extinction in the early 20th century at the hands of Tasmanian hunters. However, according to Dr Nic Haygarth, an historian at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, mystery and fear surrounded the thylacine in years past.

Read more...

[xXHellkittiesXx]

Finally!

Edited by xXHellkittiesXx, 08 March 2011 - 01:28 AM.

[DieChecker]

Awwww.... I thought this would be a thread about the thylocenes being cloned and grown into real animals. :-(

I think the title is a little misleading. :-(

[Sevenof Seven]

There is education, but those who need it most are not receptive to it. Extinction of species is a real concern and everyone needs to understand what this means for the planet. When humans take far more than they need and give nothing in return to the planet, we are left with this problem. Awareness and education are a must to get the message across to everyone.

[Kyouka]

Sevenof Seven, on 08 March 2011 - 01:27 PM, said:

There is education, but those who need it most are not receptive to it. Extinction of species is a real concern and everyone needs to understand what this means for the planet. When humans take far more than they need and give nothing in return to the planet, we are left with this problem. Awareness and education are a must to get the message across to everyone.

What does it mean for the planet? Species have come and gone for millennia, and it's usually been that the planet is what screwed them over! When humans take far more than they need, they make corpulent corpses that are best put in the ground so that the planet can reclaim what had been taken. "The planet" wants for nothing.

DieChecker said:

Awwww.... I thought this would be a thread about the thylocenes being cloned and grown into real animals. :-(

That would have been great.

[Somerset Pierce]

I'm afraid that cloning them would be a bad idea. Say we do clone them, then what? Put them in a zoo? What does it tell our children? "Hey kids, extinction is bad and all, but don't worry too much about it, we can just clone the animals back."

Cloning the Thylacine is no different than a rich kids parents buying him a brand new car after he totaled his previous one on a drunken bender. We killed it off, yes, but we have to live with that, and every other species we have drove to extinction. We screwed up, as a species, many times, and I don't think it would be very healthy to go around cloning away our mistakes, as horrible, and sad as they may be.

[Myles]

Somerset Pierce, on 09 March 2011 - 09:43 AM, said:

I'm afraid that cloning them would be a bad idea. Say we do clone them, then what? Put them in a zoo? What does it tell our children? "Hey kids, extinction is bad and all, but don't worry too much about it, we can just clone the animals back."

Cloning the Thylacine is no different than a rich kids parents buying him a brand new car after he totaled his previous one on a drunken bender. We killed it off, yes, but we have to live with that, and every other species we have drove to extinction. We screwed up, as a species, many times, and I don't think it would be very healthy to go around cloning away our mistakes, as horrible, and sad as they may be.

I like you thinking.    It makes sense.     However, would you clone a dinosaur?   Even though we didn't kill them, it would send the same message - Don't worry about consequences because we can bring them back.

[Somerset Pierce]

Myles, on 09 March 2011 - 07:24 PM, said:

I like you thinking.    It makes sense.     However, would you clone a dinosaur?   Even though we didn't kill them, it would send the same message - Don't worry about consequences because we can bring them back.

I don't think I would advocate the cloning of a dinosaur either. True, humans were not the cause of their end, however, it would still be a mistake.

For example say we clone a dinosaur, say Compsognathus, something relatively harmless, especially when compared to say, a Velociraptor. This dinosaur occupied a niche that is now occupied by contemporary animals. 65 million years is a long time to be gone, and to suddenly re-introduce the species may be the most damaging thing we could do to the environment.

[j b]

DieChecker, on 08 March 2011 - 03:12 AM, said:

Awwww.... I thought this would be a thread about the thylocenes being cloned and grown into real animals. :-(

I think the title is a little misleading. :-(

me too... dern.  they should hurry up already

[xCrimsonx]

Tasmanian Tigers brought to life? Where now?

[scheming_dreaming]

i demand cloned dinosaurs NOW

[UFO_Monster]

The titles of this thread and the article are deceiving.

[Somerset Pierce]

I have a hard time understanding why people want to clone this animal out of extinction. We should learn from our mistakes, not erase them.

[Kyouka]

Somerset Pierce, on 10 March 2011 - 04:07 AM, said:

I have a hard time understanding why people want to clone this animal out of extinction. We should learn from our mistakes, not erase them.

Cloning Tasmanian Tigers out of extinction would not erase anything. They would still be basically extinct except for in captivity, and to have a good breeding population we'd have to take great pangs to set up reserves and all of that. We can learn from our mistakes without being defeatist about it and wanting to keep the consequences permanent.

[BaneSilvermoon]

Kyouka, on 11 March 2011 - 12:05 PM, said:

Cloning Tasmanian Tigers out of extinction would not erase anything. They would still be basically extinct except for in captivity, and to have a good breeding population we'd have to take great pangs to set up reserves and all of that. We can learn from our mistakes without being defeatist about it and wanting to keep the consequences permanent.

Merriam-Websters Learner's Dictionary
cap·tiv·i·ty  /kæpˈtɪvəti/ noun
[noncount] : the state of being kept in a place (such as a prison or a cage) and not being able to leave or be free : the state or condition of being captive

cap·tive  /ˈkæptɪv/ adjective
1 : captured and kept in a prison, cage, etc.


No creature should be made to exist purely for that purpose. Cloned or not.