Inspired by this thread.
God decided he needs to retain the cosmic balance. So having killed off one species, he’s going to bring an extinct species back to life.
But it’s a weekend and he doesn’t want to work too hard. So no species that’s been extinct more than a million years - ie no dinosaurs.
He’s offering the above but he’s open to suggestions.
Other - Neanderthal.
Starring Pauly Shore.
Irish deer. As a little kid I saw a skeleton of one in a museum and I’ve just always been fascinated by them. But ------ I do admit that I want to bring it back and have it thrive enough so I can harvest one and eat it. C’mon - regular elk steaks are cool but a plate full of Irish Elk (as I learned to call it)? That would have to be some platter.
Second choice is mammoth — but mostly to see if I could bring one down with a muzzleloader.
That’s good. That’s very good.
You left out Dire Wolves – which I guess is fine, since we’d have nowhere for them to live and nothing for them to eat.
I looked long and hard at Irish Elk. Megaloceros are incredible and to see one alive and going about his life would be breathtaking. But I don’t know. Bringing them back and then just letting the hunters have them seems wrong.
In the end, I voted as I always knew I would: Wooly Mammoths. We’re right on the verge of losing our elephants, and a world without elephants is a very shabby world, indeed. Bringing back the Mammoths and letting them run free in Yellowstone - that would almost make up for losing the elephants and the polar bears, both.
The Dodo. Because that just seemed like bad luck.
As much as I want the passenger pigeon back (those giant flocks sound awesome!), I voted for the Great Auk. Penguin penguin penguin.
Woolly Mammoth. I want to see the vast herds migrating through Swindon
Tassie Tiger. It was a bloody great shame such a beautiful animal was wiped out so recently for such dumb reasons that it pains me. “other” was extremely tempting, but I felt it unfair to have one option represent so many potential choices, and besides, that poor stripey fellow.
Eohippus.
I envision teams of them hauling six-packs of beer home from the supermarket.
I don’t see what we would do with a wooly mammoth in modern day. The only place for it would be the zoo, which seems sort of pointless. I voted for the Irish Elk since it seems like one of the more plausible to be able to persist if brought back.
There are parts of Siberia/Northern Asia where free-range mammoths would be possible - maybe. Lots of empty space around where herds could roam. There is a lot in the habits and biology I’m not up on very well though so there could be issues I don’t know.
If you consider Dutch poachers to be bad luck.
Remember: the Dutch may have brought us gouda cheese and weed tourism, but they stole from us the Dodo. Never forget.
Also to the OP: it’s “aurochs”, not “auroch”.
I went for the wooly mammoth. Global warming is opening up new northern territory where they might survive.
Passenger pigeon, but only if having it back rolls back the habitat loss that was a major factor in its extinction.
Giant Ground Sloth, mainly because we have nothing anything like it today and there are a lot of questions about what they may have been like. The Woolly Mammoth is really just a variation on your basic elephant.
Can I bring back a plant species?
I’m voting TRex, even if God has to break a sweat.
My mistake. I thought you spelled the singular without an s, like a hippopotamu or a walru.
Mosquitos!