![]() ![]() In this article I use the example of an extinct New Zealand wattlebird, the huia, to argue-contra Shapiro-that there are compelling reasons to resurrect certain species if it can be done. Shapiro’s denial that genuine species de-extinction is possible is based on her assumption that resurrected organisms would need to be perfectly indistinguishable from the creatures that died out. The de-extinct ‘mammoths’ she speaks of are merely ecological proxies for mammoths-elephants re-engineered for cold-tolerance by the addition to their genomes of a few mammoth genes. But in fact Shapiro both denies this is possible, and denies there would be good reason to do it even if it were possible. ![]() The title of Beth Shapiro’s ‘How to Clone a Mammoth’ contains an implicature: it suggests that it is indeed possible to clone a mammoth, to bring extinct species back from the dead. ![]()
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