SYDNEY, Australia (AP) —The extinct Tasmanian tiger may one day roar back to life, Australian scientists said Tuesday, announcing they have taken some steps to clone the animal by replicating DNA from preserved specimens.
“What was once nothing more than an impossible dream has just taken another giant step closer to becoming a biological reality,” said Mike Archer, director of the Australian Museum, which is backing the project.
However, reproductive biologists were highly skeptical of plans to clone the Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine. The wolf-sized, tiger-striped, carnivorous marsupial native to Australia that was hunted to extinction by farmers who blamed it for attacking sheep. The last known specimen died in captivity in 1936.
“I think he is in fairyland,” said Professor Alan Trounson of Australia’s Monash University. “No amount of wishing and really good science will ever bring the thylacine back. It’s gone.”
Although it was once found across Australia, the thylacine’s last stand was in the southern island state of Tasmania, hence its the name Tasmanian tiger.
Three years ago, scientists at the Australian Museum in Sydney began working on plans to clone the extinct animal. In May 2000, the team successfully extracted good quality DNA from a pickled female pup in its collection.
Archer said Tuesday that geneticists at the museum have now replicated parts of the thylacine’s DNA, resulting in millions of copies of DNA fragments that potentially could be inserted into a living cell.
