Verified Document

Mammals Cloning To Preserve The Endangered Giant Term Paper

Mammals Cloning to Preserve the Endangered Giant Panda

Among animals, mammals account for more than 15,000 species of vertebrate animals that have the ability to self-regulate their body temperature, have hair, and, in the females, produce milk. In the study of mammalogy, the branch of science that deals with mammals, there has been a growing concern at the rate of mammalian species nearing extinction. Thus, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 was put forth to protect animals and plants on the verge of extinction. It also provides policy to the Fish and Wildlife Service to determine a listing of endangered animals and to develop associated recovery programs. The Fish and Wildlife Service subsequently has registered a policy for controlled propagation of species listed under the Endangered Species Act for a restricted administration of conservation and recovery practices where the purpose is to oversee the "production of individuals, generally within a managed environment, for the purpose of supplementing or augmenting a wild population, or reintroduction to the wild to establish new populations." A sub-focus of this policy is concerned with activities involving genetic development of offspring in a laboratory or other controlled environment where the policy requests that propagation programs have a minimal adverse affect on existing wild populations of endangered animals. Given the concerns over the ever-expanding list of endangered species, as well as considering the substantial scientific developments in genetics, would it be prudent and ethical to direct recovery efforts at genetically cloning endangered species, or even extinct species with recoverable DNA, in order to repopulate these animals for modern day species diversity?

Cloning endangered species offers a solution to preserving and propagating those animals that have poor reproduction rates in captive environments until which time that their habitats can be restored and they can be successfully reintroduced to the wild. One of the greatest advantages to genetic cloning is that it expands the genetic diversity within a gene pool, which is otherwise limited when only a few animals within the species remain. Genetic diversity is the key to endangered species conservation, but consequences relating to the methods to arrive at this point may be incurred.

The controlled propagation policy raises concerns over the use of technology other than the breeding of parental stock to reproduce and preserve a species. While genetic diversity could be maintained through cloning, there may pose the possibility of some adverse genetic effects if only a portion of the gene pool is enhanced. Also of concern as addressed by the policy is that problems may be presented if the controlled production of a species (i.e. through cloning) decreases the animal's natural capacity to survive, reproduce, and adapt in the wild.

The Act does not outwardly address the ethical issues to genetic cloning or other manufactured means of propagating an animal for endangered species conservation, but the frequency of loss of surrogates, embryos, and newborns is considered under the idea that "risk" should be minimized. The controlled propagation policy of the Endangered Species Act is very careful over allowing potential harm to come to an animal protected under the Act, stating that recovery efforts must "minimize risks to existing wild populations." The degree of minimal risk described by the Act is subjective and has been recognized as being "insufficient" in its detail by the Fish and Wildlife Service, but an outlined list of risk examples is provided in the policy, one concerned with the removal of, or risk to, parental stock that could lead to an increased possibility of extinction or decreased genetic variability within naturally occurring numbers in a species.

Cloning technology requires a mother to act as a surrogate. While conservation biologists may be in support of, or on the fence about, cloning as a method of endangered-species conservation, the concept of using either a wild or captive endangered female of the same species to assist in reproduction or act as a surrogate...

Parts of this document are hidden

View Full Document
svg-one

To circumvent the risk of adversely affecting the present-day numbers of a species by using a surrogate of that species, or even to reintroduce a species that has been identified as being extinct, scientists have delved into utilizing methods of interspecies cloning to reproduce an animal using a surrogate mother of another, less endangered animal.
Interspecies cloning is a two-fold process whereby the cells of a surrogate species are combined with the endangered or extinct species to produce an embryo of the desired species, then the designed embryo is implanted into the surrogate mother. It is thus necessary that the reproduction biology of the endangered species considered be well studied to maximum the effectiveness of cloning success. In January 2001, a milk cow gave birth to an endangered relative known as a gaur. Unfortunately, two days later the ox-like calf died of an uncommon disease called scours, which some biologists believe may have been induced by the genetic cloning process (it is estimated that baby clones are three times more likely to die than natural young due to increased risk of infection, underdevelopment, and abnormal growth development). While the death may be considered a negative hit to cloning, it did prove that interspecies transplant can be induced and the birth of an endangered animal can occur. Shortly after, a house cat was reported to have given birth to the endangered African wildcat, another cat yielded an Indian desert cat, a common eland gave birth to a bongo antelope, a domestic sheep produced a mouflon sheep, and a white-tailed deer generated a rare red deer. All of these interspecies embryo transfers yielded live births. The success of these clonings gives hope to preserving other endangered species as well.

One of the most endangered species, the giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, was protected by the Act in 1984. While conservation efforts and land preservation have been provided for this icon of the World Wildlife Fund, illegal poaching, continued encroachment on their environmental lands, and difficulty with captive breeding programs have made it difficult to even maintain the scarce population of fewer than 1,000 of these gentle animals. About ten percent of the panda population is held in zoo facilities where their captive reproduction problems have been thoroughly studied. It has been concluded that grouping successful mating pairs together is too difficult to be a viable means of facilitating their recovery, but the giant panda has benefited from assisted reproduction through artificial insemination. It is unfortunate that their limited distribution in the wild makes it difficult to productively reintroduce them, which further compounds the problem of repopulating their species. One possible solution does exist; they are the subject of interspecies transfer experiments in cloning.

The biotechnology company Advanced Cell Technologies (ACT) of Boston, Massachusetts, has considered the panda to be one of the best candidates for endangered-species cloning, and has discussed cloning plans with the government of China, the single native home of the panda. Chinese scientist Dayuan Chen published a paper in the journal Science in China in 1999, describing how his team fused the skeletal muscle, uterus, and mammary gland cells of a panda with the eggs of a rabbit and then developed the cloned cells into blastocysts within the laboratory. Working with the Chinese, ACT has plans to further this development by using eggs from female American black bears and combining them with cells obtained from the late pandas Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling of the San Diego Zoo, to produce cloned giant panda embryos that can be implanted in a surrogate female black bear. They are hopeful that this interspecies transfer will occur since the black bear does have a history of a successful birth of a transplanted embryo of another black bear.

If successful genetic cloning through interspecies transfer could save the giant panda from extinction, the Endangered Species Act will have to reconsider its perspective on scientific methods of controlled…

Sources used in this document:
Bibliography

Endangered Species Act of 1973." U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. June 1994. http://endangered.fws.gov/policy/pol003.html

Hawes, A. & M. Huy. "Giant Pandas." Smithsonian National Zoological Park. 2001. http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/

Lanza, Robert P., Dresser, Betsy L. & Philip Damiani. "Cloning Noah's Ark." Scientific

American. 19 Nov. 2000.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Animal Testing There Are Individuals
Words: 1907 Length: 6 Document Type: Research Paper

By using animals in research, and through animal research science learns how certain chemicals "interact with living systems"; this knowledge can be "translated into protection of humans, animals, and the environment from toxic levels of natural -- as well as man-made -- exposures (SOT, 6). Legal and professional accountability In Canada there are Research Ethics Boards (REBs) that have the power to authorize or reject funding for experiments with animals; when

Animals in Captivity Zoological Parks
Words: 1788 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

The well-being of an animal, preservation of species and biological diversity is always given first priority when it comes to deciding upon the appropriateness of research to be undertaken (Lin, 2013). It reaches a point in time when some animals have to be released to the wild from the zoos. This is normally conducted in accordance with IUCN/SSC/Reintroduction Specialist group guidelines. Before the animals are released to the wild, they

Animal Testing Negatives of Animal Testing Outweigh
Words: 2261 Length: 7 Document Type: Research Paper

Animal Testing Negatives of Animal Testing Outweigh Its Positives and Therefore Should Not be Allowed Many cures and treatments have been developed in the last three hundred years due to advances in medical technology. These developments are sometimes attributed partly to the fact that scientists and researchers have been able to use animals as "guinea pigs" for testing new medications or treatment methods before passing them to human volunteers. There is strong

Animal Rights the Roles of
Words: 1285 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Two main aims of the zoos are highlighted by the author in the article. Firstly, zoos provide the environments that are suitable and represent some level of wilderness. Secondly, the zoos must provide entertainment to the visitors. But the zoos have been criticized by the author. One of the most important facts in these cases is the relationship between pornography and zoos as given by the authors. The way

Animal Testing There Has Been
Words: 1029 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

These experiments are done to see how the humans fair on with the treatment or the diseases without putting much consideration to whether it would survive or die FRAME Reduction Committee, 2005() Some other ways in which animals are unethically used for scientific purposes include in cases where Genetically modification is done on animals where some of their genes are added or removed as per type of experiment done, use

Animal Rights Over the Past
Words: 2596 Length: 7 Document Type: Essay

Animals in captivity, for example, have often been genetically, behaviorally or anatomically manipulated in order to enhance acclimation to the new environment. Similarly, animals have been neutered, declawed or defanged to be more compatible with their human keepers. Those who are in support of captivity of animals need to revisit such earlier condoned behavior and ensure that animals receive necessary care, nutrition and exercise and live in proper caging

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now