Similar in a way to the 'Soul Cairn' of Skyrim, it is a worldwide museum of sorts memorializing species driven extinct by human activity.

I discovered it recently off a link from wikipedia about 'http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonesome_George,' the last remaining giant Galápagos tortoise who recently died in captivity. He was the 'endling' of his species, meaning after he died, this family of giant tortoise that normally lived to be well over a hundred years old are officially no more.

Apparently the introduction by man of a non-native species of goat created exclusive competition which led to the decimation of their natural habitat and eventual extinction, making George's family candidates IMO for the Life Cairn.

There were numerous attempts to have the tortoise fertilize eggs of similar species' females in captivity, all of which failed. So, the questions I am left with are: is there a sample of his unique DNA preserved and if so, would it not be appropriate to attempt an artificial fertilization?

We have seen successful experiments in mammals with the use of modern bioengineering to create viable offspring from the genetic material of two female eggs, or two male sperm. It should be equally feasible to create a viable sub-species of the 'lonesome George' Galápagos tortoise and re-populate the natural habitat.

Some would say it is meddling in mother nature's kitchen but I say aren't we obligated, being it was us that turned up the heat too high for the natural mix to come out alright?

I say we should petition this 'Life Cairn' to seek funding to make it a LIVING museum, bringing species driven extinct by humans back to life and wherever possible, also have a branch that handles repairing the human damage to the natural environments they once thrived in, to re-introduce what we have been responsible for destroying.

I grew up hearing about the giant turtles of the Galápagos isles. I thought about them every time I watched Neverending Story as a kid. It is hard to believe such a unique creation is gone forever. If we could bring them back in a way that would be healthy and viable I say we should make the attempt.

What do you think?

I think once its extinct leave it extinct, more as a memorial to human stupidity and greed, also fertilising just another animal that is close isnt the same as the exact one, you can make it look the same but it isnt the same, these arent the first nor will they be the last, leave them die in peace.

Well, they do have the http://www.globalresearch.ca/doomsday-seed-vault-in-the-arctic/23503, several in fact, where we are preserving diverse samples of all the world's species. I think that, if we had enough DNA to represent a viable community of a particular species driven extinct by man, it would be worth pursuing to bring them back.

I agree though, mixing with still existing species sort of defeats the purpose. We would have to have DNA samples of enough of these turtles to make the pool sufficiently diverse to reconstitute.

I like to look at it in terms of "ethical terraforming." Whenever people think of this they always imagine transforming other planets to look like ours, but we have to realize, we are changing ours to look like something else every day, and it is sort of the same thing.

I believe we need to respect the nature of a place first. So, if we are going to expand into an area, it is important to "theme" our building and resource management efforts to blend naturally, so the two environments are not mutually exclusive, and instead compliment each other.

In that vein, I think helping a natural environment WE are responsible for destroying to rebuild as it was would be a good idea, if it could be done correctly. Obviously if the species we cloned were going to be weak and have health problems and such no, but we have come a long way since Dolly the sheep.

You may be right though, species that go extinct all on their own without the influence of man directly causing it, we might just consider the natural course of things. But anymore, as we branch out to formerly undiscovered and undeveloped areas of the world, it is becoming harder and harder to find a place untouched by our modern "terraforming."