Have times changed since Hollywood scientists cooked up a dinosaur from the stomach contents of an unfortunate mosquito? Even though society wrestles with stem cells, genetically souped-up food and the cloning of sheep, cats, horses, pigs, cows, and monkeys, the idea of resurrecting extinct species still seems like a fairy tale.
But some researchers think that Jurassic Park is inching ever closer to the truth. Dr. Hendrik Poinar of McMaster University has been seeking out the DNA of extinct species. But instead of hunting mosquitoes trapped in amber, Poinar chips away at the permafrost in Siberia, whose dry and cold refrigerator-like climate has kept DNA under favourable storage conditions-within remarkably preserved mammoth carcasses.
“Entire heads have come out of there,” Poinar said at a Royal Canadian Institute science lecture at the J.J.R. Macleod Auditorium, on Sunday afternoon. He painted a picture of mammoths, sabretooth tigers, and other Pleistocene beasts, all extinct for over 10,000 years, going about their business on a grassy tundra.
“I can’t tell you anymore whether this will remain an illustrated image or whether or not 20 to 30 years from now, this will actually be something you see on the northern edge of Siberia,” he said.
Of course, Poinar has more than cloning on his mind. In December, he reported that he had sequenced, or decoded, a small portion of the mammoth genome, with plans to complete the job within a couple of years.
Within the chemically coded structure of DNA lies the recorded history of a species. By comparing the codes of different species scientists can figure out a species’ closest relative, where it lived, and even which other species it bred-or hybridized-with.
“Now we can ask all sorts of interesting questions about [mammoths], too,” said Poinar.
Already scientists have determined that mammoths are close cousins of the Indian elephant. Knowing the family portrait makes mammoth resurrection more feasible, as cloning one would simply require a compatible egg donor from the closest living relative. Poinar explained that scientists would remove the Indian elephant DNA, stuff the egg with mammoth DNA, and implant it into an Indian elephant surrogate mom and let Nature take its course.
“Technology isn’t what it used to be,” commented elderly audience member Jay Hodges. “Who would believe it?”
Even if we could wake these ancient beasts from their eternal slumber, does that mean we should? Poinar pondered how society would decide which species to resurrect and which to let lie.
“What about the poison arrow frog that went extinct a year ago? What about the dodo? What about species that are still alive? What about the lemurs that will go extinct in Madagascar or the spotted owls which have only about 100 individuals?
It’s much easier to get the DNA of a species when it’s not dead in the ground (or ice). So does Poinar really think we’ll be making mammoths in the decades to come?
In private, he seemed more pessimistic about Pleistocene Park. “Theoretically it is possible, but I don’t see cloning in the short term. Long-term maybe, but not short term.”
Nevertheless, Poinar thinks it’s time society wrestled with the ethics of resurrecting extinct creatures and is planning a conference to explore the issues.
“Things move at such lighting speeds that it’s very difficult for some scientists to see the ethical implications or ramifications before it’s too late.
“I think it’s about time.”
