Posted on 04/12/2013 8:05:13 PM PDT by Olog-hai
The world has been without passenger pigeons since 1914. Now, scientists want to bring them back. Geneticist Ben Novak has embarked on the project and has begun collecting passenger pigeon DNA from natural history museums. His “de-extinction” efforts are not without critics. …
Novak, a researcher with the Long Now Foundation, a California think tank, wants to give the species a second chance. At the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology in Berkeley, Novak used a scalpel to slice small tissue samples from the red-painted toes of the passenger pigeons kept there. He hopes to isolate tiny bits of DNA from the samples and use them to assemble an entire genotype. His ultimate goal is the resurrection of the passenger pigeon. …
The art of breathing new life into long-extinct species is in vogue among biologists. The Tasmanian devil, the wooly rhinoceros, the mammoth, the dodo and the gastric-breeding frog are all on the list of candidates for revival. To recover the genetic makeup of species, experts cut pieces of tissue from stuffed zoological rarities, pulverize pieces of bone or search in the freezers of their institutions for samples of extinct animals. …
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
/johnny
“Tasmanian devil is not extinct. Maybe they meant the thylacine?”
Beat me to it. (You’re forgiven this once. ;) )
Do you have any idea how nasty their roosting areas get, and if it's the trees in your neighborhood you just lost your property for the next several decades.
Yeah, you could catch them with a net, but who would really want to do that for long ~ the ammonia would kill you.
This research must be stopped ~ he’s out of his mind!
how about raising a few honest politicians from the dead, instead?
They tried. There weren't any.
/johnny
We need to bring back something that will eat liberals.
Well if there aren’t any honest politicians, then that explains why they’re giving us full-of-sh#t birds that coo sweet nothings at you while crapping on our heads. (Hum... Quite like politicians anyway, eh?)
He’s a witch! Burn him!
/johnny
/johnny
What could possibly go wrong.
I heard Passenger pigeons really tasted good—that’s why they went extinct—too many humans eating them. I say, bring em back, raise them on farms and serve them at the best restaurants!
The packing methodology was simple ~ take a bird, put in barrel, take another bird, put in barrel, get a good layer, then cover with salt. Start over. Do that until you fill the barrel.
I think they took the feathers off much later.
Your alternative was my Great Great Grandfather and his meat wagon ~ they'd slaughter a steer. Chop it into various cuts. Sell off what they could of the ofal, et al, in town, then pack it in salt in boxes inside the wagon and go off on their regular rounds ~ which I believe took 3 days out, then 3 days back.
You didn't want to be the last customer on that route ~
From what I understand, it was because they were simply cheap meat that could be hunted with ease, as they migrated in flocks that were miles wide and literally hundreds of miles long.
Even with that many birds, when they’re being trapped by the score with nets or blasted with veritable antiaircraft guns, over and over again, year after year...it adds up. (Or, in this case, takes away...until there weren’t enough left to survive predators and other natural attrition.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.