Okay, but seriously....

[Hallow'sEve]

Why can't we just clone all the endangered animals? That might sound naive or something, considering I know nothing about genetics. But we've cloned animals before and it seems like a reasonable solution to endangered species, either that or saving their DNA samples so we can clone them later (like the seed vault in the netherlands).

 

[delet]

Because people have issues with science.

 

[Hallow'sEve]

You're telling me there's a force out there more powerful than an adorable tiger? LIES

 

[PeePantz]

The amount of money it would take and uncertainty of the clones surviving would be mind boggling. I'm sure we probably have a decent amount of DNA from animals and also the ethical questions surely would slow this down. I personally believe in the old fashion way of not ruining endangered animals and let nature do what it does best: be.

 

[capin Rob]

Because clonein is EVIL!/sarcasm

Cloning costs money, lots of it

 

[delet]

You're telling me there's a force out there more powerful than an adorable tiger? LIES

Use the quote function.

Yes. It's called a gun. Guns are more powerful than tigers.

 

[Skorpyo]

It wouldn't work.

Last I heard, clones have a low chance of having any reproductive ability and die quickly.

 

[Hallow'sEve]

I was talking bout human beliefs superseding a possible solution, but yes, guns are much more powerful.

 

[Thedayrecker]

I don't know much about science either, but won't that lead to massive amounts of inbreeding?

 

[Jfswift]

That's not a bad idea really.

 

[delet]

I was talking bout human beliefs superseding a possible solution, but yes, guns are much more powerful.

Yeah, I got that.

And use the goddamn quote button.

Spoiler: Here, click this for a helpful picture

Click on the circled buttons that say "Quote" and you'll quote someone, notifying them that you're quoting them.

 

[Xojins]

Because clonein is EVIL!/sarcasm

Cloning costs money, lots of it

This. It would probably cost a lot more to clone them than simply protecting them.

 

[Irridium]

Actually, scientists are exploring this avenue.

Its just that cloning stupidly expensive. Do you have any idea how hard it is to clone one animal, let alone multiple species in enough numbers to breed and survive on their own? They would end up cloning very few animals of a species, and would have to keep them isolated. This would drain much resources that would be best used to help prevent causes of extinction. This is also ignoring the issues that would arise with genetic diversity, or lack-thereof.

Its an interesting idea, and scientists are looking into it, but at the moments its just unfeasible.

I believe the gaur is the only endangered animal to be cloned. And even then it was just one. And it died 2 days after birth.

 

[Serenegoose]

Because cloning won't help. Their habitat is being destroyed, that's why they're being wiped out. Where would you put them? You'd just wipe out the rest of the species when you vastly overpopulated the tiny strip of land that's left to them. (for now)

 

[Tasachan]

Cloning is terribly expensive, and it takes hundreds of tries to get a single successful clone. They often die just after birth, to mention the defects that a clone is extremely likely to develop (lung problems being one of them).

 

[KefkaCultist]

I was talking bout human beliefs superseding a possible solution, but yes, guns are much more powerful.

Yeah, I got that.

And use the goddamn quote button.

Spoiler: Here, click this for a helpful picture

Click on the circled buttons that say "Quote" and you'll quote someone, notifying them that you're quoting them.

Question: Why do you have a tab open that says "pictures of sad children"? I'm just curious.

OT: pretty much what others have said, they wouldn't last long, costs a lot of money, and I don't think they have normal reproductive capabilities.

EDIT: nevermind, I fail... quick google search turns up a web comic

 

[Blue_vision]

It wouldn't work.

Last I heard, clones have a low chance of having any reproductive ability and die quickly.

This. And you'd need to get samples from tonnes of different individuals, enough to ensure genetic variation in the herd. They'd also have to have real parents to teach them to survive in the wild, so if a species is so sparse that regular reproduction isn't enough, then cloning probably won't work either.

And on top of that, it doesn't even solve the underlying problem of humans hunting/fucking up creature's habitats, so we'd just have to clone them again 50 years down the road.


My question is this: Okay, but seriously... why can't we just learn to get along with nature?

 

[The Salty Vulcan]

Last time I checked, cloning wasn't really perfected yet. Take Dolly the Sheep. Yeah she was an exact duplicate of the original, but she also died earliar to what I can best describe as clone disintegration. That's just me though, I haven't touched a science book in like 5 years. Also, its too damn expensive.