The use of reproductive cloning in endangered species

Endangered species are defined as species at risk of extinction because of human activity, changes in climate, changes in predator-prey ratios, etc. There are quite a lot of solutions that we can offer towards this issue of animals at the brink of extinction. However, this blog is going to focus on the use of reproductive cloning in endangered species. Reproductive cloning is defined as a production of a duplication with heredity and genetic process on an existing organism, and in this case, an endangered species. 

The main idea and key concepts of cloning towards endangered species have always triggered the minds of scientists to conserve all those animals. As the world gets more modernized, with a more advanced field of technology and research, we are able to clone animals with a better perspective and understanding and in the future keep animals alive and away from the stage of extinction. These animals are very unique on their own and experience a trauma of suffer and hatred. Thus, there are a couple of benefits and limitations we must weigh on.

The benefits of reproductive cloning is that the limited number of extinct animals will not be that small, and there won't be any animals experiencing the stage of extinction therefore,  we can enjoy the habitat and reserve them so they will live safely in the wild with a good and adaptable environment. Another advantage is that if we clone from an adult animal of that species, it is understandable that the new cloned species will look exactly alike as the original species. Cloning offers so much as preserving the animals that are unique in individuality and also in their own personality they have gotten from the way they live. We should be able to gather the knowledge that these animals are very rare and must work hard and keep attention towards the habitat. This action of cloning is also harmless towards the society, and the process like "nuclear transfer" that is the same with normal birth. It does affect the society to have greater minds to have more attention towards that certain animal. Some animals in the world experience extinction because they have a difficulty in breeding and a very sought possibility that they are going to be able to create and result a new same species. With more research and knowledge towards subjects of cloning, we can clone animals with great morals and challenging lives.

The limitations of reproductive cloning in endangered species is that this is a very rare technique and is quite inefficient technique, scientists have not discovered a lot of research unlike subjects toward the human body and its function, and is a very complex technique and process to understand. Another limitation is that the majority of cloned animals cannot develop into healthy and strong individuals. One go the main limitation is the problem wot chromosomes, over time, the telomeres become so short that the cell can no longer divide and the consequences are that the tips of the chromosome will shrink and die. With this, this can result to a shorter life span and quality. One famous example of cloning animals is a sheep name Dolly, who was cloned from the cell of a 6-year-old sheep, who had chromosomes that were shorter than those of other sheep her age. Dolly died when she was six years old, about half the average of sheep's 12-year lifespan.

There are a number of essentials and components to create a successful and healthy living cloned species:

1. DNA from the animal which will be cloned 

2. A viable egg to receive the DNA from the cloned animal

3. A mother to carry a fetus in the won from conception which is the action of conceiving a child or of a child being conceived, until birth 

In the majority of times, hundreds of embryos are collected and restored and attempted pregnancies are needed to produce just a tiny digit of clones. Scientists does not have a clear image towards endangered animals' reproductive physiology yet, which makes risk stakes way higher than normal. Legal protections prevent the animals that are normally threatened from doing the procedures. To recoup or to regain their strength back, researchers fuse the DNA of an endangered species with eggs from a closely related species and select the mother from the latter. However, some hybrid embryos tend to fail to grow and develop properly.

This picture shows the process in which cloned animals experience.

One famous example of a successful cloning where it was known and still is known is a sheep named Dolly, who had developed and started all from a laboratory test tube. 

Ethical Concerns:

Ethical is defined as something related to moral issues, or also called social norms and principles.

The limitations of reproductive cloning in endangered species impacting towards the ethical issues are it impacts subjects like religion or culture,  which is one of the highest priorities towards the society. Some religion states that cloning animals, endangered animals, etc. can exemplify that they are taking or replacing the place of God. To summarize, cloning is not a natural process, therefore, it is interfering with God's plan for the universe.  By cloning animals, the people in the society would rely cloning to be the solution of the endangered situation, rather than focusing on how to keep and observe the habitat and the animals in a safe and non hazardous way. If cloning becomes one of the most prominent and the most usable technique to conserve the animal and the animals' habitat, people in the society would pay less attention towards the solution.

The advantages of reproductive cloning in endangered species impacting towards the ethical issue is that when we do techniques such as cloning, we must first determine carefully with sources such as scientific study what is their interests to ensure that they live good lives in the world they are created. Creating favorable conditions for extinct animals may require creating and developing new habitats in fresh and new environments when they can live in peace and flourish.

Solution:

This picture shows cloned mice which, in the future will work in the laboratory to find out more about curing human diseases.

As stated above,  reproductive cloning provides a great solution towards animals that are usually extinct because most animals that are on this generation would usually have a greater difficulty on breeding animals, and with this procedure the animal can be developed faster and create the goal population of that certain endangered organism increase and would not be endangered anymore. With a larger number of animals, we will pay more attention towards the habitat because we want those animals to live a life that the environment is good and safe, with no possibilities that any person would kill it because of hunting or occupation, etc. Reproductive cloning also can produce genetically identical species which can be used as models to discover an seven cure human, animal or organisms diseases. One example of this issue is the mice, which is the most commonly used laboratory animals, which reproduces rapidly and it genetics have been well discovered and known until the maximum. The mice have been successfully cloned and will likely facilitate the discovery of new treatments for diseases.

Conclusion:

Cloning is indeed a fascinating technique and procedure that will be more specific in the future with doctors who specialize on this procedure. Cloning provides a maintaining diversity towards the society. Who knows what will happen, but maybe we may get a glimpse of dinosaurs right in front of our faces, it all goes on towards the knowledge and the vast imagination of scientist. The majority of people who live in this society does not agree to the issue of letting ti be legal to clone animals and human. However, because of cloning animals, we can use them as experiments to cure diseases that have evolved towards human beings.

Bibliography:

• "The Roslin Institute." (University of Edinburgh). N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. <http://www.roslin.ed.ac.uk/public-interest/dolly-the-sheep/a-life-of-dolly/>.
• "Reproductive Cloning." Prezi.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://prezi.com/04iuzayf6h1l/reproductive-cloning/>.
• Animal Cloning: ...Old MacDonald's Farm Is Not What It Used To Be."Actionbioscience. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotechnology/pecorino.html
• "Bioethics: Cloning Endangered Species." Prezi.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://prezi.com/tvl-0xdi0cx7/bioethics-cloning-endangered-species/>.
• Shreeve, Jamie. "Species Revival: Should We Bring Back Extinct Animals?"National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 05 Mar. 2013. Web. 23 Oct. 2014. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/03/130305-science-animals-extinct-species-revival-deextinction-debate-tedx/>.

Offline sources:

• Pickering, Ron. Complete Biology for Cambridge IGCSE. 2nd ed. N.p.: Oxford UP, 2006. Print.
• Stockley, Corinne, Chris Oxlade, Jane Wertheim, G. Smith, Kuo Kang. Chen, and Kirsteen Rogers. The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Science. London: Usborne, 2001. Print.