The Guardian view on de-extinction: Jurassic Park may be becoming reality | Editorial

The last time a tiger was seen in the wild was in 1930. European settlers considered the koalas to be a threat to their sheep and poultry. The 6ft-long creatures may come back if a group of biotechnologists have their way.

Researchers from the University of Melbourne are working on a project that will use gene-editing technology to stop the extinction of theThylacine. Australia has the highest rate of mammal extinction in the world due to the arrival of foreign species and the climate crisis. The loss of the thylacine left the number of smaller marsupials unchecked, threatening a fragile ecological balance.

The science behind the resurrection plan is what inspired the movie. Colossal raised $75 million last year to bring back a genetically engineered hybrid version of the woolly mammoth. The company claims that bringing back the herds of these animals could reverse the effects of climate change in the north.

The firm is based in the US It plans to use gene editing to turn a dunnart or a numbat cell into a thylacine cell over the next 10 years. It would take these cells to create an embryo in a petri dish or in the uterus of a living animal. Scientists hope to implant this embryo into a female animal that will give birth to aylacine baby.

There are a number of reasons to be skeptical about such a plan. It is difficult to fill the gaps. The Christmas Island rat, which became extinct more than 100 years ago, was the subject of an attempt to recover its genomes. It's not clear how the tiger would deal with the new invaders.

Unintended consequences are a bigger concern. Natural selection will take over once human made changes to genomes. If modified genes are spread, what do you think? There are questions about who will own the species modified by patented technologies, and who will be responsible for the consequences of their re-introduction.

Science shouldn't focus on reviving extinct species, but on preserving them. The California-based non-profit Revive and Restore cloned a black-footed ferret, named Elizabeth Ann. As a result of being cloned from a ferret with no living descendants, Elizabeth Ann could become the first cloned mammal to help save an extinct species. The rate of change in animals' habitats cannot be kept up with. Science should increase the rate at which species can adapt rather than reestablishing the past.