Effort to Clone Cave Lion

[Techno-Druid]

Your understanding of how ecosystems work seems a little faulty.

First and foremost, yes, it would compete with the tigers, 100%. The lions might not be a viable population in the long run, but they'd certainly drag the tigers down with them.

Second, no prey item in Siberia is adapted to dealing with pack-hunting animals larger than wolves.

And consequently, it would 100% be an invasive species. These lions didn't just go extinct in the past ~200 years or so, and being from the area at some long-gone time in the past has nothing to do with with whether they'd be disruptive or not. The ecosystem and its animals have adjusted for more than 10,000 years to a habitat where large, pack-hunting predators do not exist. Siberian tigers filled the niche of apex predator, and they've come into risk. Their niche and the roll they play in the ecosystem is already jeopardized; exacerbating the imbalance does nothing but stress the balance of every living there there.

Tigers in Russia exist in the Far East close to the Chinese border (Siberian tigers don't actually live in Siberia, that's why many people have starting calling them Amur tigers alternately).

I was talking about reintroducing them in the chance of an ecological restoration taking place where horses, bison, musk ox, yak, etc, are reintroduced across Siberia.

[Nathreim]

I don't know why people are talking about letting these clone animals go free in the wild. No one is going to just let such an expensive animal go free its going to end up in a zoo or park. Specially considering that they probably cant survive anyway and would harm the ecosystems they were released in

Now if we were cloning black rhinos or Tasmanian tigers and releasing them that would be different.

[Techno-Druid]

I don't know why people are talking about letting these clone animals go free in the wild. No one is going to just let such an expensive animal go free its going to end up in a zoo or park.

That's what most geneticists and others plan on doing with mammoths or mammoth hybrids if they could create a population of them

[ItachiZaku]

I like how the article implies that the lions are also painters.

[Deleted]

Who wants to hunt Cecil the Cave Lion for $100000?

[Kaleredar]

Tigers in Russia exist in the Far East close to the Chinese border (Siberian tigers don't actually live in Siberia, that's why many people have starting calling them Amur tigers alternately).

I was talking about reintroducing them in the chance of an ecological restoration taking place where horses, bison, musk ox, yak, etc, are reintroduced across Siberia.

...except animals already live in those places. Cave lions, as I said, do not and have not for more than 10,000 years.

[Revi]

I like the idea of getting back species that were extinct as a direct result of human interference, but before we do that we should really make sure we can keep the current species alive. Destruction of the environment and loss of habitat is not going to be helped by upheaving the whole food chain and introducing even more species.

[May90]

I like the idea of getting back species that were extinct as a direct result of human interference, but before we do that we should really make sure we can keep the current species alive. Destruction of the environment and loss of habitat is not going to be helped by upheaving the whole food chain and introducing even more species.

It would be an interesting idea to try to genetically engineer species that would naturally counter the destruction we are inflicting on the environment. Imagine genetically engineered bacteria that fly around and consume gases we release into the atmosphere, transforming them into oxygen and dumping the remains into the soil, enriching it as well... So, we can do both at the same time!