Cloned Zoos

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Cloned Zoos

Imagine an earth where every animal lives within an enclosed area where all humankind can see them. Yet, within these enclosures are the only places humans can see these animals alive. Why? It is because the animals' habitats have been damaged and completely destroyed for the needs and usage of human kind. These enclosed areas are called Cloned Zoos: The Final Stronghold of the World's Biodiversity. These cloned zoos are full of cloned animals that have been brought back from the dead or from the edge of extinction. Humankind has come to a point where all life on earth is controlled by human hands and where without the help of humans no animals will survive.

Can you imagine a world where this instance has become reality? Could humankind allow this atrocity to happen? Will they allow this atrocity to happen? Well, some scientists are trying to avert this tragedy from occurring by using cloning to preserve those animals that are endangered or rapidly approaching the brink of extinction. The technology for cloning is improving and some scientists are turning to this technology as a way to preserve the genes of species faced with extinction due to weak reproductive abilities or a population, which is split and unable to reach another population. A member of an endangered species can be cloned and reintroduced into the original or a distant and unreachable population. Another option is the member being cloned can be brought back to life after it has died in order that its genes are still part of the gene pool.

An estimated one hundred species go extinct each and every day, which means that approximately 36,500 species would go extinct every year (British Broadcasting Corporation, 2003). This extinction trend coul...

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[1] The zona pellucida is "the extracellular matrix of the egg," (Campbell, Reece, Mitchell, 1999, p. 940), a protective layer of the egg.

[2] "Fitness is a measure of potential success," (English 107), for a species within a given environment.

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