Top 10 Animals Scientists Want to Bring Back From Extinction

When you think of Ireland, what comes to mind? Beautiful landscapes? Pub culture? Ancient ruins? It’s a destination with a lot to offer, but wildlife isn’t exactly at the top of the list. Once upon a time, however, the Emerald Isle was home to one of the world’s largest breeds of deer— the Irish Elk. Though their remains have been found in the bogs of Ireland, this impressive creature’s habitat extended to Siberia. Also referred to as the Giant Deer, they’re thought to have gone extinct roughly 7,000 to 8,000 years ago. And though experts say their numbers were likely always low, well-preserved remains are discovered fairly regularly, making the Irish Elk a solid candidate for resurrection via cloning.

Well, that name is certainly a mouthful. And “mouthfuls” are something that this species was all too familiar with before their extinction in the 1980s. You know how little kids will often describe pregnant women as having a baby “in their tummy”. Well, with the gastric-brooding frogs, the sentence applies literally. The females of this remarkable species swallow the fertilized eggs, which, over the course of six weeks or so, hatch into tadpoles and develop into little frogs— all in the mother’s stomach! Sadly, the species collapsed under the stress of pollution and habitat loss (among other factors). But given that this was a recent extinction, somatic-cell nuclear transfer cloning seems promising. Researchers have managed to successfully clone embryos, suggesting that full-grown frogs aren’t far off.

Just look at these adorable creatures. Don’t you think they deserve a second chance? Closely related to manatees and dugongs, these peaceful creatures, which could measure up to 30 feet in length, were sadly hunted to the point of extinction. There have been alleged sightings as recently as the 1960s, but most people agree with the declaration of extinction that was made in 1768 — just 27 years after Europeans took notice of them. With aquatic animals, the likelihood of finding preserved specimens is unfortunately next to zero. But hope isn’t altogether lost! Given the close genetic similarities between dugongs and Steller’s sea cow, researchers believe they might be able to resurrect the latter by reversing engineering the genetics of the former.

Speaking of aquatic creatures who deserved better, how about this more recent tragedy? Smaller than their saltwater relatives, but no less intelligent or playful, Baiji dolphins were one of five known species of river dolphins found around the world. Thousands of them reportedly used to swim the Yangtze River; they even had a place in Chinese folklore and were collectively thought of as a “goddess of protection” among those who made their living on the water. Unfortunately, the population went into sharp decline with China’s industrialization. Preservation efforts were made in 2001, but it was too late. Given how recently the extinction occurred, however, Baiji could prove a viable candidate for resurrection via a number of methods.

We might not be able to resurrect an Ankylosaurus anytime soon, but we’d settle for a Doedicurus! This impressive creature is estimated to have gone extinct seven to eight thousand years ago. Like its fellow creatures of the Pleistocene epoch, Doedicurus was built to live in a tough environment. It’s closest living relative is the armadillo, but Doedicurus dwarfs its descendents by a substantial margin. It's estimated that they weighed an average of 3,100 lbs and measured just shy of 5 feet in height and 12 feet in length. It would take quite a bit of effort to resurrect this ancient armored mammal, but hope persists of finding remains in a cool, dry area where the elements may have preserved usable genetic material.

Though lizards might look like the closest living ancestor of dinosaurs, that honor actually goes to various types of birds — including chickens. And so, with that fact in mind, the Moa begins to seem like a solid stepping stone along our never ending quest to make Jurassic Park a reality. The term “Moa” actually encapsulates nine known species of large flightless birds that once roamed modern day New Zealand. The largest among them, Dinornis novaezelandiae and Dinornis robustus, could reach heights of 12 feet when they fully extended their necks. That’s a full three feet taller than the largest ostrich! Given that it only died out several hundred years ago and DNA is readily available, the Moa is considered a top contender for “de-extinction”.

Native to Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, this eye-catching marsupial was only declared extinct in 1936, when the last known thylacine, Benjamin, died in captivity … although there’s been the occasional alleged sighting in years since. But given that they were scarce even before the arrival of the British, even if a few Tasmanian Tigers did manage to survive in the wild, their numbers were clearly too low for successful recovery. De-extinction efforts began in 2008 and in 2017, researchers completed a full nuclear genome. At the current rate, Thylacines could live again as early as 2027!

Fans of the Ice Age franchise, this one’s for you! But if we do manage to resurrect the Sabre-Tooth Tiger, please don’t trust it to babysit your infant child. Also known as the Smilodon, this prehistoric mammal was a fearsome predator during the Pleistocene epoch. Like so many of its contemporaries, however, it went the way of the dinosaurs. We can’t say with certainty why it died out, but all signs point to the scarcity of big game resulting from climate change. It died out some 10,000 years ago as part of the Quaternary extinction event. But if sufficient DNA is found, it could return to the hunt. Speaking of big cats, Caspian tigers and the American lion are both potential candidates as well.

Ancient Armadillos the size of small cars, ferocious predators, 12 foot tall birds … a lot of these resurrection contenders come with a notable intimidation factor. They’re the sort of animals you’d be terrified to hear had escaped their enclosures. The Dodo, on the other hand, is kind of an ideal choice. Not only is this flightless bird non-threatening, but it famously had almost no fear of humans. And though this might come as a surprise, it’s not hard to source the necessary genetic materials for dodos. The genome has already been sequenced and it's got a close relative in the Nicobar pigeon to help with the cloning process. If there’s one creature you should bet on making a coming back, it’s the dodo bird.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Pyrenean Ibex
Giant Short-Faced Bear
Aurochs
Quagga
Passenger Pigeon

This really feels like the holy grail of potential resurrections. The idea of being able to see a woolly mammoth on safari in a wildlife preserve is like something right out of a sci-fi novel. Most current efforts focus on creating elephant-mammoth hybrids; but, as with many of the entries on our list, this raises considerable ethical dilemmas, due to questionable prospects for survival. Nonetheless, the necessary material is there. In 2013, a nearly complete 40,000 year old mammoth, now named “Buttercup”, was found frozen in the New Siberia Islands. This specimen was even able to offer up blood samples, which scientists are confident can be used to source living cells. As if that’s not exciting enough, there’s similar potential for the woolly rhinoceros.