So I recently learned that, in the Cayman Islands, where they drove green sea turtles to near(?) extinction, they have had a successful re-introduction program. Whatβs interesting is that they collect, incubate, and hatch the eggs in a hatchery, and raise the turtles until theyβre a year or two old, and then release them. By then, theyβre too Big for the land predators, and 100% of the turtles make it to the ocean. Theyβve brought the population back to tens of thousands.
At some point, I guess theyβll consider the population stable and end the program, and let nature go back to what it was doing with the predators and all, but for now itβs nice to know that these turtles, at least, donβt have to face that sort of predation. Itβs the least we could do, as a species.
Weβre also re-introducing mostly-Aurochs (re-bred, not genetically identical to the originals), and weβll probably see thylacines brought back from extinction.
I donβt know if anyone is working on Dodos, or whether thereβs even enough genetic material to work with, but thatβs one Iβd personally really love to see brought back.
Mammoths, too! Hopefully we can get fully sequenced genomes on those.
I havenβt heard of any concrete efforts to re-introduced mammoths, though - is someone working on that?
Iβll shed no tears for the seagulls