Malaysia May Clone Endangered Turtles
The magnificent leatherback, whose direct ancestors once swam with the dinosaurs, has been brought to the brink of extinction by fishing, pollution and shoreline development.
However, trying to save them with a biotechnological magic bullet is unlikely to work. For all the problems scientists have cloning mammals, reptiles have proved even trickier — and the time, energy and money spent on such a project would better be devoted to more practical conservation efforts.
Celebrated science and environment journalist David Quammen wrote the most comprehensive article yet on the practical and philosophical problems of conservation cloning several years ago for Harper’s. If you have a few minutes, read it.
Wired coverage of the pro-clone/anti-clone conservation split here.
Malaysia mulls cloning rare turtles [Associated Press]