Personal Reflection #2
By: Taylor Mollon

Should humans resurrect extinct species through de-extinction science? In my opinion this depends on many things. Will the species be able to coincide with current species? Where will these species live? Can this species be a danger to another species whether it be us as humans or any other species? Will the species be able to adapt to our current world? Lastly will it be able to reproduce? If the species is unable to coincide with other species this could cause a problem for either itself or other species. This resurrected species must be able to eat and live around other species otherwise it won’t survive. As I will mention many times throughout this paper if the species can’t survive there is no point in resurrection, you will just be putting a helpless animal into its death once again. The species must have a place to live and not in a lab or preservation facility. If we resurrect a species, it will have to be able to learn and grow in the wild otherwise it will never be able to survive. At the same time, it must be given a chance to reproduce in some way. The question I then ask is how can we allow a species to train itself for the wild without risking its own fatality before reproducing? On top of this, I personally feel as though it is unethical to facilitate an animal as I believe they should be able to roam free in the wild. If the species being resurrected can cause harm to us or any other animal, it should not be resurrected. We would not want to risk potentially bringing back a species that has the potential to ruin the food chain and/or spread disease. Invasive species have caused harm to many species around the world and we would not want to risk harming another species just to bring back a species as I believe this could cause harm to the food chain. Will the species be able to adapt/survive in our current world? Many species throughout the world are dying to loss of habitat and poachers. How can we ensure that this won’t happen again, and if it’s a recently extinct species what caused its extinction and how can we prevent it from happening again? As for the species that have been extinct for a longer period of time, will it be able to adapt to the changes in society? The cities, climate change, and pollution, how can we ensure the safety of a resurrected species? As mentioned earlier, if a species cannot survive resurrection there is no point in resurrecting it to begin with. Lastly, can the species reproduce? This question is really simple as to its reasoning. If a species cannot survive and cannot repopulate there is no reason in resurrection. Personally I think the outcome of resurrection will not result in much until we can ensure reproduction and safety of the species. I also believe there will be no real benefit in resurrecting a species at this time. We as humans live fine right now, there is potential that a species could rid other dangers such as invasive species but is it worth the risk? My final answer to the question is no. We should not risk endangering our world, the species on it or ourselves.