Yowiehunters Forum

When it comes to replicating the DNA of an extinct species I always look to the basic question of "Who's paying for it all and why?".

It'd be massively expensive to do, with no guarantee of a return on the investment. It would take decades to achieve...but for what? Even if someone revived a recently extinct species (such as the Thylacine) you'd need to create a viable breeding population from scratch, and that cannot yet be done.

Even when a species is very recently extinct, the task of resurrecting one is so difficult as to be impossible.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science ... oning.html

If they'd managed to preserve the DNA of the Pyrenean ibex by crossbreeding them with similar species (before they'd all died out) they might have managed to preserve some of its genetic uniqueness, and if they'd used IVF to produce lots of hybrids with other European wild goats - and set them loose in that area - some of the Pyrenean ibex's traits would've bred true in that population, albeit not in their original form. They would've 'diluted' its genetic heritage but might have saved it from vanishing completely by doing so.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrenean_ibex

But we can't even be bothered saving animals before they're all dead...I doubt the human race has the will to bring one back from oblivion. It's one of those ideas that journalists use to make things sound more exciting than they are.

Simon M wrote: Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:28 pm Even if someone revived a recently extinct species (such as the Thylacine) you'd need to create a viable breeding population from scratch, and that cannot yet be done.

I speak for many "believers", in saying that the Thylacine is alive and well.
Next thing, you will be saying there are no Yowies

Zed wrote: Sun Feb 04, 2018 9:19 pm Dion,

Read Matthew Reilly’s book “The Great China Zoo”; a work of fiction, that will give you an idea of what could happen!!

Zed

Thanks Zed I'll look into it,

hillbilly wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:47 am

Simon M wrote: Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:28 pm Even if someone revived a recently extinct species (such as the Thylacine) you'd need to create a viable breeding population from scratch, and that cannot yet be done.

I speak for many "believers", in saying that the Thylacine is alive and well.
Next thing, you will be saying there are no Yowies

Good point, Hillbilly! Simon's comments are almost without exception knowledgable, concise and well thought out. So I was a tad surprised to see the leap of faith taken to say they are "a recently extinct species". My view is there have been far too many sightings both in Tassie and on the mainland to say positively they no longer exist. I have spoken first-hand to forest workers in Tasmania while producing a doco over there, and they as a group had no doubt the Thylacine was still alive as I was told some of their fellow forestry people had actually seen them.

hillbilly wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:47 am

Simon M wrote: Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:28 pm Even if someone revived a recently extinct species (such as the Thylacine) you'd need to create a viable breeding population from scratch, and that cannot yet be done.

I speak for many "believers", in saying that the Thylacine is alive and well.
Next thing, you will be saying there are no Yowies

Yes theyre out there. Its just a big secret. Lotsa trappers, hunters and people in general that live in the areas of interest know about them...and other stuff!

Fair enough.

I was just making the point that it's currently impossible to re-create any species from remnants of DNA in a 'jurassic park' type of way. That stuff is still science-fiction. The Ibex case was the most serious attempt to date, and it ended in failure for reasons they couldn't even define, much less overcome.

As to there being all manner of cryptids in mainland Australia - I agree that they're around. You guys know I think that by now.

Thylacines, or something very much like them, are a definite possibility.

I think bunyip sightings indicate there's some form of surviving megafauna (either marsupial or monotreme) filling the approximate ecological niche of an African hippopotamus. Perhaps because it's semi-aquatic this species managed to survive whatever conditions/circumstances killed off the rest of the megafauna? That's pure speculation on my part. I'm the very worst kind of armchair expert on all this. I know from my own reading that many indigenous legends describe bunyips as being able to burrow underground as well as being expert swimmers (like gigantic platypuses?), so if there were any type of true megafauna that could've survived whatever changed conditions wiped out the others, one that lives underwater and underground would have a powerful advantage in terms of being able to tough out changes in climate or in the landscape itself, or the impact of human activity. Out of sight means off the menu, I guess.

I'm sure there are various kinds of Yowies, and there are doubtless mystery 'big cats'; although my own belief is that they're not cats, but marsupials that appear cat-like due to convergent evolution (like the Fossa of Madagascar). The sightings of 'big cats' predate the arrival of circuses and American Servicemen in WWII. These may be surviving relatives of the Thylacoleo or something similar. There's a lot we don't know about this place. Of course, I cannot prove any of this as it's pure speculation on my part. It's just what I reckon while I sit in front of a computer. I wouldn't last one night in the bush, even with the best equipment. I'd need my CPAP machine, and a battery for it, and I walk with a limp and I'm riddled with arthritis...I'd be a field researcher's worst nightmare.

The reason all these things are difficult for human beings to find is because they're so perfectly adapted to life on this continent. They've always survived by being extremely difficult to locate, and that didn't change with the arrival of Europeans.

So yes...thylacines are officially 'recently extinct', but I'm sure there's a mainland variant still hunting on the fringes of modern Australia. They're no doubt still present in Tasmania as well.

So...sorry if I appeared not to have thought it through. It was sloppily written, I agree. My main point was that there's no chance we'll be recreating an entire species from recovered remnants of DNA in the foreseeable future.

We've all heard about the Japanese wanting to clone Mammoths, or the Russians, or that nutty American billionaire bloke who wants to clone a sabre-tooth cat from DNA he's had recovered from the La Brea Tar Pits. It's not going to happen, at least not in the way we fear. These people might be able to create a small group of individuals at gargantuan expense...possibly. But these would be hybridised with modern animals out of biological necessity, they'd never be true representations of the extinct animals (as the Monty Python crew once asked "Where's the fetus going to gestate? In a box?"). As far as modern technology goes, that cannot be done. Which is, I think, a very good thing.

As I said, if we focused our efforts on preventing animals from dying out in the first place (IVF, captive breeding programs, much more money spent on conservation, etc) it'd be money better spent. Trying to make these things rise like a phoenix from the ashes (or from the DNA sample, in this case) is a mug's game.

Great reply, Simon. Thanks for clearing that up!

May I respectfully say you are without doubt the most active poster ever seen on AYR. (See attachment from this morning)

Please keep up the excellent work as I always look forward to reading your thoughts and opinions.

Only one question... why is there no recent response to anything in the 'ghost' file??

If there was, it would be a clean sweep across the board.

Cheers mate!

I don't have much to say about ghosts, because it's not a topic I know a whole lot about. I've read some stuff, but have never had a serious interest in them in the way that I've always been fascinated by mystery animals.

I've read a bit about UFO's as well, but only enough to have formed the opinion that they're examples of the military testing out their latest high-tech stuff.

As far as ghosts go...I dunno. I'm not sure what to think. I suspect they're some sort of psychic impression that have been left in certain locations, which is why similar reports come from different people at different times in the same place (e.g. people seeing the same phantom woman in the same ruined castle over the course of many years).

I don't think ghosts are the actual spirits of the deceased. I don't buy the theory that Yowies are 'demons'. I'm not religious in any way, and I don't think the dead communicate with the living.

That's as close to any kind of 'manifesto' that I have. I know what I don't believe, but I accept that there's a whole bunch of stuff I don't know.

All religions are attempts by human beings to understand profound concepts like eternity, sacrifice, love and death. We invent religions to try and make sense of abstract concepts we find difficult to understand. It's impossible for me to accept than any religion is more or less true than another one - they're all true if you choose to believe in them.

This recent flying reptile report comes courtesy of this week's Filers Files and MUFON CMS.

Flying Reptile Bird

Mercerville — I am a retired law enforcement officer and have had other UAP sightings which I have reported to MUFON. On January 18, 2018 at 1720 hours while I was on the back porch I observed a large “bird” flying west at 200 feet. I am a student of nature, science, space, and aviation and familiar with anything that moves around us in our natural habitat. This gull grey flying object had a set of large primary wings mid span of its body and a secondary set of smaller wings at the end of its thin like a snake body. They flapped in tandem at the same rate as the large thin primary wings. The body was slender and long. It had no discernible head or beak. No underpinnings like legs or feet were present. It looked like a skinny B-29.

The wings were very thin and long and flew like an eel or snake as it adjusted its flight path up and down or to the left at slight increments. I followed it above the neighborhood trees and lost sight of it about 30 seconds later. This UAP was very fluid like in its motion like a live natural creature. It moved through the air much like a sea born creature would move through the water. The very thin body was at the minimum 10 feet long as were the very thin main wings. The tail wings were about a quarter size of the main wings. This was not any natural Earthly flying creature. Note A large ten foot winged bird was reported in West Windsor in October. Thanks to MUFON CMS