9.23.2008 9:26 AM

Can We Bring Darwin's Tortoise Back from Extinction?

'Jurassic Park' Scenario Possible, With Remnant Bits of DNA

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Photo: Claudio Ciofi

By Dan Shapley

Extinct species of Galapagos tortoise gone since shortly after Charles Darwin made his famous voyage there more than 170 years ago could be brought back into the world, Yale University scientists can accomplish a scheme straight out of Jurassic Park.

By studying museum specimens and wild populations, scientists think they may be able to structure a program that could revive species by breeding for certain genetic traits, just as Darwin did with orchids in the experiments that solidified his ideas about evolution.

Unlike the Jurassic Park fiction, however, this scheme would take decades to yield results. Turtles are at risk in the wild in part because most are long-lived but reproduce infrequently, a survival strategy that worked well until humans hunted or trampled many species toward extinction.

For more on this story, see the Yale University press release or these accounts.

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