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Thylacine Day comes once a year
14 years ago
Happy Thylacine Day. One of those depressing days, but it must be faced.
On September 7, 1936, the last thylacine died in the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, Tasmania. It was the largest marsupail carnivore to survive into the present era. The primary causes of its extinction hunting and a potential outbreak of a distemper (or distemper-like disease.) It was an unnecessary extinction, and it was done through human action.
It may be possible to resurrect the thylacine thanks to several pups preserved in alcohol in that alcohol (unlike formalin & formaldehyde) dehydrated the cells and preserves the DNA, Mitochondrial DNA, and other chemical structures. But this would be a Herculean undertaking and likely surpasses current biological engineering capabilities.
Though, as much as I would love to see my favorite animal return, more necessary is the saving of a current species. The tasmanian devil, a necessary part of the Tasmanian ecosystem, is suffering a 'facial tumor' disease. Even with treatment and surgery, it is a death sentence in under a year. It is my hope that this animal will be preserved for future generations.
Also, Scientific American Blog did run an article in honor of the thylacine and there was an article concerning skull mechanics in the September issue of the Journal of Zoology. If you click "View Full Article" or "Get PDF" on the bar above the abstract, you can access the full article. I was most pleased by this (Im also including the links to the abstract and full.)
SA Blog link:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com.....to-extinction/
Journal of Zoology
Abstract
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/.....844.x/abstract
Full HTML
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/.....1.00844.x/full
On September 7, 1936, the last thylacine died in the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, Tasmania. It was the largest marsupail carnivore to survive into the present era. The primary causes of its extinction hunting and a potential outbreak of a distemper (or distemper-like disease.) It was an unnecessary extinction, and it was done through human action.
It may be possible to resurrect the thylacine thanks to several pups preserved in alcohol in that alcohol (unlike formalin & formaldehyde) dehydrated the cells and preserves the DNA, Mitochondrial DNA, and other chemical structures. But this would be a Herculean undertaking and likely surpasses current biological engineering capabilities.
Though, as much as I would love to see my favorite animal return, more necessary is the saving of a current species. The tasmanian devil, a necessary part of the Tasmanian ecosystem, is suffering a 'facial tumor' disease. Even with treatment and surgery, it is a death sentence in under a year. It is my hope that this animal will be preserved for future generations.
Also, Scientific American Blog did run an article in honor of the thylacine and there was an article concerning skull mechanics in the September issue of the Journal of Zoology. If you click "View Full Article" or "Get PDF" on the bar above the abstract, you can access the full article. I was most pleased by this (Im also including the links to the abstract and full.)
SA Blog link:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com.....to-extinction/
Journal of Zoology
Abstract
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/.....844.x/abstract
Full HTML
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/.....1.00844.x/full
