Robert: Scientists plan to resurrect extinct Tasmanian Tiger

Nearly 100 years after it was declared extinct, scientists are aiming to bring the Tasmanian tiger back to life. 

The tiger, also known as thylacine, will be brought back using advanced genetics, ancient DNA retrieval and artificial reproduction.

“We would strongly advocate that first and foremost we need to protect our biodiversity from further extinctions, but unfortunately we are not seeing a slowing down in species loss,” said the head of head the Thylacine Integrated Genetic Restoration Research Lab at the University of Melbourne, Andrew Pask, “This technology offers a chance to correct this and could be applied in exceptional circumstances where cornerstone species have been lost.”

Pask added introducing the animal back into the environment will be a careful procedure.

“Any release such as this requires studying the animal and its interaction in the ecosystem over many seasons and in large areas of enclosed land before you would consider a complete rewilding.”

Despite its name, the Tasmanian tiger was actually a marsupial. It lived solely on Australian island of Tasmania and was hunted to extinction by early European settlers.

The last known Tasmanian tiger died while in captivity in 1936.