Sharing a planet with humans isn’t easy. It certainly hasn’t been easy for the thousands of animals that, because of us, will soon die out. Scientists estimate that 40,000 different kinds of animals will become extinct this year, just as many will disappear next year, and the next. Many of Earth’s animals will soon become nothing more than old bones.

Or will they?

Scientists say they have found a way to bring animals back from extinction. Using the animals’ DNA, scientists are learning to clone extinct animals.

This cloning technology could save many animals like the panda and the mountain gorilla. Scientists plan to collect the DNA of these endangered animals. If one day they do become extinct, the stored DNA can be used to bring these animals back.

In fact, this is already happening right now. Scientists are cloning an Indian ox that became extinct in 2000. Someday, this technology may be used to clone animals that have been dead for thousands of years.

Take the mammoth for example. This animal has been extinct for 10,000 years. But in 1999, a perfectly preserved mammoth was discovered. Scientists hope to find undamaged DNA in the animal. If they can find it, the mammoth may once again walk the earth.

This scenario sounds like something from the movie Jurassic Park. Then, what about T. rex? Will it one day come back to life, too? That’s not very likely. Dinosaurs have been extinct for too long. Finding the complete DNA of a dinosaur would be nearly impossible.

Scientists also face challenges in cloning more recently extinct animals. For one, a clone must have a substitute mother. The young animal does not have to grow inside an animal of its own species, but the mother’s species must be similar to that of the cloned animal. An ox, for example, could have a cow for a mother, but definitely not a monkey.

What about an animal as unique as the panda? What species could possibly serve as a substitute mother to China’s endangered panda? Scientists are pondering that question right now.

Is cloning a cure for extinction? Cloning presents many exciting possibilities, but not everyone is excited about this new technology. Many people argue that cloning extinct animals is just a gimmick. Cloning can never solve the problem of extinction. First, even if extinct animals are brought back, they could not survive in today’s world.

Most extinct animals have no habitat to live in. The other plants and animals that they depended on for food may also be gone. An animal brought back from extinction would become just another sad animal in a zoo.

Second, cloning animals requires a lot of time, money and research. Scientists can only afford to clone a very small percentage of extinct animals. Thousands of creatures would still have no hope of ever being saved from extinction.

The only real “cure” for extinction may simply be better protection of the environment. We must protect animals and their habitats before they become extinct. If we don’t, Earth’s great animal diversity will certainly be destroyed. And even the world’s best scientists may not be able to put it back together again.