# You can bring back one extinct species - what do you choose? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 23, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544 "2010-03-23T22:20:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/61 "2010-03-25T05:51:21Z")
[Megatherium](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatherium) A five ton sloth. I would worship it as my god. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/62 "2010-03-25T09:58:17Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I would guess enough hobbits to leave the t. rex too stuffed to stand up. 😃 Choking might also be a hazard. According to Gandalf the Grey, an expert in the culinary uses of hobbits, “They can be as soft as butter, but also as tough as tree roots.” The proper method to prepare your hobbit is to place them in a sack and squish them down to jelly. T. Rex has the mass, but does it have the intelligence? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/63 "2010-03-25T11:46:53Z")
Given my predisposition towards parrots, I would second the Carolina Parakeet, although the Monk Parakeet is taking over their range. On the other hand, the oversized Caribbean Otter would be a hoot. Otters are always fun. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/64 "2010-03-25T13:24:58Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Choking might also be a hazard. According to Gandalf the Grey, an expert in the culinary uses of hobbits, “They can be as soft as butter, but also as tough as tree roots.” I’d never understood the chilling implications of that quote before. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/65 "2010-03-25T15:16:30Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’m torn. Dodos might be nice, but I think I need to go with Diictodon. Can you imagine have one of [these little guys](http://primeval.wikia.com/wiki/File:Diictodon_promo.jpg) as a pet? Awww, puppy-lizards! But aren’t they a bit destructive? At least most puppy-dogs outgrow that eventually. > [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Pigeon = Winged rat I hear rats are not bad, especially served onna stick. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/66 "2010-03-25T16:00:55Z")
Holmesina septentrionalis. I’ve always felt that what the world needs more of is 6-foot long, 500 pound armadillos wandering around. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/67 "2010-03-25T17:02:18Z")
Hallucigenia, because I want to be the only person who’s ever eaten a Precambrian animal. And also to see if it tastes like shrimp. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Elk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Anne\_Elk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Elk)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/68 "2010-03-26T00:04:39Z")
Why a brontosaurus, of course! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/69 "2010-03-26T00:10:43Z")
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/70 "2010-03-26T00:47:07Z")
Homo sapiens sapiens. Good as pets and good as a source of food. ETA: sorry this post is about 6 weeks too soon. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/71 "2010-03-26T03:21:39Z")
> [@Neidhart](#): > > Hallucigenia, because I want to be the only person who’s ever eaten a Precambrian animal. And also to see if it tastes like shrimp. I think you will end up with spikey-thingeys stuck in the roof of your mouth. Or your tongue. Which will it be? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/72 "2010-03-26T04:52:00Z")
I was torn between the Dodo, the Greak Auk and the Moa. But the Terror Bird would also be way cool. But I’d go with the most famous, the Dodo. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/73 "2010-03-26T04:54:38Z")
When we all bring back our animals, we should have a party for us and our extinct minions. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/74 "2010-03-26T13:32:47Z")
> [@Lantern](#): > > Neanderthals were the first thing I thought of as well when I read the thread title. Although reviving a species close to but probably below our intellectual level would raise a number of tricky ethical and political questions. And if as some argue, humans were responsible for wiping them out, I am not sure how they would feel about living with us. I would really be interested to see how much lower they would be. I would think that perhaps they wouldn’t be lower, just different. I don’t think you could bring back one though and have he/she be a true Neanderthal, since the Neanderthal culture has died. It would be like cloning a Mongolian person in Texas and raising them here in Dallas, they wouldn’t be very Mongol without that enculturation. Thats what I always wondered what we would hope to achieve by cloning some different branch of humanity. We could only really get biological science out of it, because the enculturation wouldn’t be there. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/75 "2010-03-26T20:00:15Z")
Any species of non-avian dinosaur would work for me. To be different, I’ll choose _Ankylosaurus_ (though it’s far from my favorite beastie). Or, to add some weirdness back into the world, something like [_Tanystropheus_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanystropheus), or [_Diplocaulus_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplocaulus), or [_Nyctosaurus_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nyctosaurus_DB.jpg). To add some terror back into the seas, something like [_Liopleurodon_](http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f317/spinosaurus_1986/Liopleurodon.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/76 "2010-03-26T20:56:37Z")
The [Pygmy Mammoth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_Mammoth). Aww… ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/77 "2010-03-26T20:57:41Z")
> [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > I would really be interested to see how much lower they would be. I would think that perhaps they wouldn’t be lower, just different. I don’t think you could bring back one though and have he/she be a true Neanderthal, since the Neanderthal culture has died. It would be like cloning a Mongolian person in Texas and raising them here in Dallas, they wouldn’t be very Mongol without that enculturation. I shudder to think of the legal implications. Would Neanderthals get the same rights as \*Homo Sapiens \*or _[Pan Paniscus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo)_? Anyone who argued “they’re just the same as us” (the argument for human civil rights and racial non-discrimination) might not be able to substantiate that claim biologically. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/78 "2010-03-26T21:16:18Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I shudder to think of the legal implications. Would Neanderthals get the same rights as \*Homo Sapiens \*or _[Pan Paniscus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo)_? Anyone who argued “they’re just the same as us” (the argument for human civil rights and racial non-discrimination) might not be able to substantiate that claim biologically. Well, I know who would [defend](http://lancelotsturgeon.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/425_caveman_lawyer2.jpg) them in court. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/79 "2010-03-26T21:22:07Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Did you happen to get those from a well timed article on [Cracked](http://www.cracked.com/article_18445_7-thankfully-extinct-giant-versions-modern-animals.html)? Yeah, I did think of that article… That and a series of linked articles on Wikipedia about [archaic homo sapiens](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaic_Homo_sapiens). ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/80 "2010-03-26T23:16:05Z")
I’d bring back [silphium](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphium). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544.md?page=5)