Which extinct animals would you like to see resurrected?

[DMXX]

Many species have been noted from historical observations and fossil digs to have disappeared from the planet. The Wiki page on African species alone shows the wide scope of that loss.

As the title states, I'm very interested to find out which species everyone else wishes to see return from the dead, if it were possible, through fertilisation techniques.

My top three picks are the woolly mammoth, Smilodon (sabre-tooth tiger) and the Caspian tiger. However, I am always intrigued by the varied morphology of known Felidae and Elephantidae members (these are the scientific families to which cats and elephants respectively belong to).

Some of the known variations (extinct) of the Elephantidae family are shown below. The different tusk configurations are pretty impressive.

Gomphotheres



Amebelodon



Deinotherium

[Clinton P]

I would quite like to see the Thylacine (Thylacinus Cynocephalus) and the Dodo (Raphus Cucullatus).

Clinton P

[basque]

I would like to see Lystrosaurus he is quite cute and lovable

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...osaurus_BW.jpg

Basque

[ilmari]

I have the same ones that DMXX stated, but then, the Dodo would also be great. Too many choices.

[AJL]

I'd also like to see the Castoroides brought back because...well, it was a 2.5-metre-long beaver. That's a big ego boost for a Canadian.

http://vmnhpaleontology.wordpress.co...day-2-updated/

[MikeWhalen]

cool topic!

I too would like to see the saber tooth tiger (or any other big cat type, love the big cats). I would also like to see the giant cave bears and auroch type bulls the first Europeans ran into...they must have been an intimidating sight to first see in a new land!

Mike

[History-of-Things]

I would have to also vote for the Dodo, but I am a bird lover. I won't bore you with the number of song birds I would like back....

For pure mammalian majesty, I would like to see a living Irish Elk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Irish_Elk
or for that matter a Steller's Sea Cow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steller%27s_Sea_Cow

[geebee]

I'd also like to see the Castoroides brought back because...well, it was a 2.5-metre-long beaver. That's a big ego boost for a Canadian.

http://vmnhpaleontology.wordpress.co...day-2-updated/

Yes, but you have to think it though first. You know, consider both "beaver" and "after".

EDIT: I'd probably go with the mammoth, too. Although if you incubated one in an elephant womb, I'm sure momma would be very surprised by the result. A couple of decades or so ago I saw a zebra foal with a horse mare at the Louisville (Kentucky) Zoo. At first I thought the horse had just been brought in as a "milk mother", but the zebra had actually been born to her. They caused the zebra mare to superovulate, fertilized all the eggs, and implanted them in multiple surrogate mothers. The idea was to help preserve the population of whatever species of zebra it was -- I don't remember which one, now.

The same technique had also been used with cattle. Of course, one drawback for the horse was that a zebra has a longer incubation period, and apparently that's usually controlled by the fetus.

[AJL]

Yes, but you have to think it though first. You know, consider both "beaver" and "after".

True enough! With all DMXX's elephantids wandering around, I figured nobody will notice a few more missing trees... and the Castoroides could also be a good food source for a resurrected short-faced bear.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...econstruct.jpg

[Baltimore1937]

Here's an interesting list of lost critters and salads:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4078988.html