# If you could bring one species back from extinction, which would it be?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 30, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350 "2015-08-30T00:18:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/1 "2015-08-30T00:18:23Z")
Inspired by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=766390).
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.
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### Author:  [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/2 "2015-08-30T00:31:03Z")
Other - Neanderthal.
Starring Pauly Shore.
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### Author:  [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/3 "2015-08-30T02:10:12Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/4 "2015-08-30T02:20:05Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#):
>
> Other - Neanderthal.
That’s good. That’s very good.
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### Author:  [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/5 "2015-08-30T02:34:24Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/6 "2015-08-30T02:36:32Z")
The Dodo. Because that just seemed like bad luck.
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/7 "2015-08-30T02:41:17Z")
As much as I want the passenger pigeon back (those giant flocks sound awesome!), I voted for the Great Auk. _Penguin penguin penguin._
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### Author:  [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/8 "2015-08-30T02:44:42Z")
Woolly Mammoth. I want to see the vast herds migrating through Swindon
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### Author:  [@Onyerbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onyerbike)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/9 "2015-08-30T06:29:11Z")
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.
☹
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/10 "2015-08-30T13:04:16Z")
Eohippus.
I envision teams of them hauling six-packs of beer home from the supermarket.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/11 "2015-08-30T13:16:58Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/12 "2015-08-30T13:46:33Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#):
>
> 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.
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.
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/13 "2015-08-30T14:07:39Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#):
>
> The Dodo. Because that just seemed like bad luck.
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”.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/14 "2015-08-30T14:44:29Z")
> [@kopek](#):
>
> 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.
I went for the wooly mammoth. Global warming is opening up new northern territory where they might survive.
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### Author:  [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/15 "2015-08-30T14:48:06Z")
Passenger pigeon, but only if having it back rolls back the habitat loss that was a major factor in its extinction.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/16 "2015-08-30T16:07:35Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@chowching](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowching)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/17 "2015-08-30T16:47:14Z")
Can I bring back a plant species?
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### Author:  [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/18 "2015-08-30T16:52:42Z")
I’m voting TRex, even if God has to break a sweat.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/19 "2015-08-30T17:32:05Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#):
>
> Also to the OP: it’s “aurochs”, not “auroch”.
My mistake. I thought you spelled the singular without an s, like a hippopotamu or a walru.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-species-back-from-extinction-which-would-it-be/729350/20 "2015-08-30T18:18:37Z")
Mosquitos!
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