Animal Cloning 

        The mountain gorilla, African wild dog, and Asian elephant are just of the few of the animals on WWF’s endangered species lists [7.1].  Within a few decades, scientists believe that these animals, and others, will become extinct.  Another one of these critically endangered species is the northern white rhinoceros.  There are only five left in the world, as one recently died at the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park. Only one aging male is left “and his past attempts at mating were unsuccessful “ [7.2]. With time running out, is there any hope for this majestic species?

 

                Scientists believe that, in time, cloning may be the answer, as several endangered species have already been cloned.  The results, however, are often inconsistent.  Noah, the gaur was born January 8th 2001, although unfortunately, he died two days later [7.3].  Two years later, scientists had to euthanize a severely malformed banteng clone [7.4].   Although there have been more cases of failures than success, in 2008, gray wolf clones were successfully cloned in South Korea.  However, many are still unconvinced.

 

                Conservationists are among theses skeptics.  They argue that “cloning does not address the reasons that many animals are becoming endangered in the first place” [7.5].  Climate change, illegal hunting, habitat destruction, and civil war are just a few of the challenges that conservationists are up against. For instance, the polar bear population is declining due to climate change and elephants are continued to be hunted for their ivory tusks.  Even though cloning endangered species may eventually be very successful, it will likely have a minimal impact on the population on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, saving these animals is going to take a global effort.  

 

           The good news is scientists are not giving up hope. They are working hard to find new and more efficient methods to clone different species.  Thanks to the work of the San Diego Zoo, researchers are able to have access to cells persevered from many different types of animals.  With hard work, we might just be able to save the northern white rhinoceros before it is too late [7.5].