# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/81 "2010-03-26T23:27:10Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Given my predisposition towards parrots, I would second the Carolina Parakeet, although the Monk Parakeet is taking over their range. I understand your point, but to me, the monk parakeet just isn’t as good. They’re introduced, which is a strike against them in my book - I don’t believe the natural Founder Effect explanation when they were so widely imported and released into the wild. And dadgummit, they’re just not as pretty as the Carolina 'keets. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/82 "2010-03-27T00:22:49Z")
Most of my ideas were already taken - I have a fondness for extinct small island species, so the thylacine, the Elephant Bird from Madagascar, the Moa from New Zealand, the large eagle that preyed on the New Zeland Moa, the dodo bird were all candidates. Seeing as all those have been mentioned, I’ll have to take a dinosaur, seeing as how those are so popular and have so many unresolved questions about them. If I’m going to bring back a dinosaur, of course I want the biggest one possible, for example [Amphicoelias fragillimus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphicoelias), a sauropod that may have measured up to 60 m ( 196 feet) long and weighed up to 122 (metric) tons. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/83 "2010-03-27T00:25:55Z")
P.S. What are the rules of this little experiment? Does it have to be a “known” species, meaning one that we have described from fossils? If not, then my answer would be “the very first living species”; that would be quite interesting as well. I’ll leave it up to the biologists/zoologists/chemists/physicists to argue over what exactly “the very first living species” means. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/84 "2010-03-27T01:35:19Z")
One of the smaller pterosaurs. Sized between the insect-eaters, & something big enough to gulp a pigeon. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/85 "2010-03-27T03:36:22Z")
[Paraceratheriums](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraceratherium) ([cool picture](http://img.blog.yahoo.co.kr/ybi/1/19/25/fanddegi/folder/1186566/img_1186566_440202_6?1132078984.jpg)) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/86 "2010-03-27T10:43:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > [Paraceratheriums](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraceratherium) ([cool picture](http://img.blog.yahoo.co.kr/ybi/1/19/25/fanddegi/folder/1186566/img_1186566_440202_6?1132078984.jpg)) You get to clean up the Paraceratheriums poop. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/87 "2010-03-27T13:21:47Z")
> [@](#): > > You get to clean up the Paraceratheriums poop. But you don’t say a word to any of the pterodactyl lovers. Those giant monsters will just be flying around overhead, dropping their dinosaur poop wherever they want. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/88 "2010-03-28T01:44:52Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > P.S. What are the rules of this little experiment? Does it have to be a “known” species, meaning one that we have described from fossils? > If not, then my answer would be “the very first living species”; that would be quite interesting as well. I’ll leave it up to the biologists/zoologists/chemists/physicists to argue over what exactly “the very first living species” means. Make sure you’ve got your microscope on hand, then. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/89 "2010-03-28T04:42:11Z")
> [@lee](#): > > I’d bring back [silphium](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphium). How the hell could this go extinct? If it was as great as all that, somebody should have been trying to grow it. (Yes, I did read the link, but sometimes human behavior baffles me.) ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/90 "2010-03-28T04:51:43Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’ve recently come across the rather sad tale of the [Stephens Island Wren](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0Q0862JcEg&#t=7m37s). Seems to have caught rather a bad break in the extinction lottery. > > The story is not true, according to wikipedia, but it is quite interesting. > > Apparently they’d be wizards at buying car insurance. You made my day with this: http: [//www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0Q0862JcEg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0Q0862JcEg) **&#t=7m37s**. I need a thread with YouTube link hacks. Can ya do it? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/91 "2010-03-28T11:04:53Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > How the hell could this go extinct? If it was as great as all that, somebody should have been trying to grow it. (Yes, I did read the link, but sometimes human behavior baffles me.) Other texts I have read suggest that such efforts were made, but failed. I suspect it needed to be pollinated by an insect, and if that insect could only feed on/breed in Silphium, then the insect vector is gone, too. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/92 "2010-03-28T12:12:03Z")
I’d like to see that weird “hallucigenia” animal from the Burgess Shale. Come to think of it, bringing back all those creatures from the Cambrian would be cool. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/93 "2010-03-29T22:21:10Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > 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). I also read that article, and [this one](http://www.cracked.com/article_16117_6-formerly-kickass-creatures-ruined-by-evolution.html) as well. Other than the T. Rex, I have to pick #5 from that list, the [Gastornis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastornis) ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/94 "2010-03-30T00:49:16Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Make sure you’ve got your microscope on hand, then. Plus, who knows? They may still be around (for whatever definition you want to apply to “species”, “living”, “very first”, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/95 "2010-03-30T04:55:57Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I also read that article, and [this one](http://www.cracked.com/article_16117_6-formerly-kickass-creatures-ruined-by-evolution.html) as well. > > Other than the T. Rex, I have to pick #5 from that list, the [Gastornis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastornis) Yes! I would have linked that one, but Googling “gigantic flightless carnivorous bird” leads [elsewhere](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phorusrhacidae). p.s. the Cracked article on Gastornis features YouTube video of possibly the gayest presenter I have ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![dre2xl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@dre2xl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dre2xl)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/96 "2010-03-30T13:05:12Z")
[Arthropleura](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropleura) Here’s a [GIS](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=Arthropleura&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=) I’d keep one around to put in people’s beds. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/97 "2010-03-30T13:48:48Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > We’re always fascinated by species that are extinct, from dodos to velociraptors, and eager to prevent it happening to species that are heading that way now. > > So a silly question - you can bring back exactly one individual from an extinct species, so you can’t bring back the entire species. It’ll be cloned, so you’ll start off with a baby one. And you can do whatever you want with it; donate to science or set free on your enemies. Oh, and you have all of Earth’s history to choose from. > > So, what do you bring back? > > Me, I’d go with a fairly recent (on the overall timescale) addition to the 99% of species which have gone extinct; a _homo neanderthalensis._ They all died out about 30,000 years ago. In popular culture they’re regarded as cavemen-like brutes, but I find them to be quite tragic figures - as intelligent as our ancestors, but now consigned to bones and pieces of flint. It’d be interesting to see the capabilities of one, and what it could tell us about our own species. Another vote for _Homo neanderthalensis_. I’m particularly interested in how our two species would interact. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/98 "2010-03-30T14:08:36Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > A 6-foot long **man-eating** weasel, that reportedly used to crawl into people’s homes in the middle of the night. Why does every thread on the SDMB have to turn into Bush-bashing? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/99 "2010-03-30T14:21:59Z")
Wooly mammoths. I want to hunt one. With a spear. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544/100 "2010-03-30T15:28:41Z")
> [@davekhps](#): > > Any dinosaur would be cool, for the obvious reasons. > > But personally, I want to learn something REALLY strange: [trilobites](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilobite). DAMN YOU! I was going to be all different-like and smarmy for saying this but was beaten to it. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-back-one-extinct-species-what-do-you-choose/533544.md?page=6)