Has there ever been any talk of cloning extinct animals? I know they can’t do it to dinosaurs because the DNA is too broken up, but is there still hope for the Blue Footed Bobo?
There seems to be much talk of cloning the Tasmanian tiger. I googled “+clone +extinct,” and the whole first page was articles about it.
Here’s one: Efforts to clone extinct tiger
Yep. This year, scientists in Australia have talked about possibly cloning the extinct Tasmanian tiger (which is not actually a tiger, but a striped marsupial). It’s been presumed extinct since the 1930s. (Details here.)
There was some talk about possibly cloning a mammoth, using one of the many well-preserved samples that have been found, but I’m not sure what the status of that is.
There have also been attempts to clone an animal that is not extinct, but endangered: the gaur, a wild ox native to Asia. A cloned gaur was actually carried to term and delivered by a cow, but did not live very long. (Details)
Here’s a good summary of ongoing efforts. The most likely possibility in the near future is the Bucardo, a subspecies of wild goat that became extinct in 2000. Other species proposed include the Thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger, the Huia (a New Zealand bird), the Mammoth, and the Quagga (a subspecies of Zebra).
I was flipping through the news channels the other day, and I swear I saw what looked to be a recent proximity-camera shot of a tasmanian tiger. Unfortunately, the story ended before I could turn the volume up.
And it was on Fox News, so the story wouldn’t be trustworthy, anyway.
Anyone else hear about this?
Not the paparazzi again!
Why can’t they just leave me alone? 
Aw, geez! My wife is so excited about that damn Tasmanian Tiger nonsense! Its all I hear about anymore! Tazzy Tiger This, Tazzy Tiger That! I hope they fail just so she’ll shut up about it! 
She’s already hinting that we have room for one at the ranch…
She told me she loved me like a brother. She’s from Arkansas, hence the Joy!
This site contains footage of the last Tasmanian Tiger in captivity, at the Hobart Zoo in 1933. Was this what you saw?