澳大利亚科学家计划2036年前复活塔斯马尼亚虎

澳大利亚科学家正联合美国公司推进一项复活已灭绝物种的计划，力争在2036年前成功培育出活的塔斯马尼亚虎。1这个目标意义重大——2036年将是该物种最后已知标本死亡100周年，最后一只塔斯马尼亚虎于1936年9月7日去世。1

由墨尔本大学遗传学家安德鲁·帕斯克领导的研究团队已与美国公司Colossal Biosciences建立合作关系，计划利用先进的基因编辑、人工智能、基因合成和克隆技术实现这一目标。1团队将采用脂尾袋鼠作为代孕母亲，这一物种与塔斯马尼亚虎的基因相同率达99.8%。1新生虎将只有米粒大小，可在代孕母亲的育儿袋内生存约两周。1帕斯克曾是首位成功将塔斯马尼亚虎基因植入小鼠的科学家。1

对于复活已灭绝物种的计划，帕斯克阐述了自己的伦理立场："我们在猎杀塔斯马尼亚虎走向灭绝时破坏了自然，现在拥有技术，我认为我们有道德义务将这些动物带回来。"1

A team of researchers led by geneticist Andrew Pask at the University of Melbourne is working to bring the extinct Tasmanian tiger back to life through advanced gene-editing technology 1. Collaborating with American company Colossal Biosciences, the project targets the successful birth of a living Tasmanian tiger before 2036, marking the centennial of when the last known specimen died on September 7, 1936 1.

The scientists plan to use fat-tailed dunnarts, which share 99.8 percent of their DNA with the Tasmanian tiger, as surrogate mothers 1. Newborn tigers would be extremely small—about the size of a grain of rice—and capable of surviving in the surrogate's pouch for approximately two weeks 1. The effort employs artificial intelligence, gene synthesis, and cloning techniques to accomplish the de-extinction goal 1. Pask, who previously became the first scientist to successfully implant Tasmanian tiger genes into mice, frames the initiative as a moral imperative: "We destroyed nature when we hunted the Tasmanian tiger to extinction, and now we have the technology—I think we have a moral obligation to bring these animals back" 1.