Re: CNN: Cloning of extinct Huia bird approved

[skeptix@efn.org (Barry Williams)]

>Cloning of extinct Huia bird approved
>
>A European fashion craze for the large, white-tipped black tail feathers of
>the Huia led to the New Zealand bird being declared extinct in the 1920s.
>
>July 20, 1999
>Web posted at: 3:15 p.m. EDT (1915 GMT)

A couple of weeks ago, Oz Skeptics made a formal presentation of Australian
Skeptic of the Year to Prof Mike Archer, director of the Australian Museum,
famous for his discovery of the huge fossil marsupial (and other species)
deposits at Riversleigh in northern Australia , and a very influential and
scathing critic of creationist idiocy.

In his acceptance speech, Mike talked about cloning the extinct (since the
1930s) Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger).  The Oz Museum has a young TT cub
(pup?) preserved in ethyl alcohol, and there are about six other specimens
similarly preserved around the world.  Seems that ethyl alcohol, unlike
formalin, preserves DNA and Mike has received a lot of scientific (and
commercial monetary) support for the project and he is confident that it is
possible and likely that within the next few years  we will see thylacines
again.

Naturally some of the fringe religious loons are ranting about "playing
God", but Mike said that extinguishing the species in the first place was
playing God, so what's wrong with rectifying God's mistakes?    I couldn't
agree more.


Barry Williams
the Skeptic of Oz