Reintroducing an Apex Predator

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Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.co.u...rrect-the-extinct-tasmanian-tiger-get-a-boost

A radical idea to support the recovery of damaged ecosystems has been gathering steam: resurrect species that have gone extinct and reintroduce them to the wild. Proponents of “de-extinction” argue that by returning species that played an important ecological role to their old habitats, entire regions could benefit.
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The suggestion is to clone a Thylacine and reintroduce them into Tasmania.

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The thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) was a marsupial, carrying its young in a pouch just like a kangaroo—Thylacinus comes from the Greek word thulakos meaning pouch—but it looked more like a slim dog with a stiff, thick tail. The animal was nicknamed the Tasmanian tiger for its characteristic striped lower back. It roamed the Earth for millions of years, likely since the early Pleistocene epoch, ranging across much of Australia and New Guinea.

Semi-nocturnal and mostly solitary, thylacine was likely an ambush predator, hunting small- to medium-size prey at night. Sometime in the last few thousand years, however, the animal disappeared from New Guinea and the Australian mainland, likely due to human hunting and competition with the dingo, which was brought to Australia from Asia some 4,000 years ago. For hundreds of years, the animal clung to the island of Tasmania as its final refuge.
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Before you start thinking, as I did, 'what about the wallabies?!'

Today Tasmania’s ecosystems are threatened due to the disappearance of its “tiger.” The loss of an apex predator has left an over-abundance of small macropods, a family of marsupials such as red-necked wallabies and Tasmanian pademelons. These animals have damaged local vegetation through over-grazing, creating ecological instability and threatening other herbivores.

Bringing the thylacine back could, in theory, help keep these smaller animals in check. Apex predators also help curb the spread of disease among their prey, such as devil facial tumour disease, a transmissible cancer currently spreading among Tasmanian devils.
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There are many other articles out there which go into further details on the cloning process if anyone is interested.


What are peoples thoughts on this type of thing? A good idea in theory, but potential moral quandaries?
 
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Seems like a good idea for a couple of reasons; this isn't some random long-extinct dinosaur the rest of the ecosystem isn't adapted to and which has more risk of causing significant, unwanted, disruption, these things were still around in living memory, like at least the 1930s with possible sightings up through the 60s and maybe even 80s AFAIK.

Secondly, there appear to have been negative consequences as a result of their extinction. Reintroducing an apex predator into the area where it was previously can have good consequences, see, for example, the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone national park in the US:

 
Dinosaurs have been extinct for too long, introducing them now would not fit into any biodiversity found on the planet; the dinosaurs would completely decimate every habitat they are introduced to - they may as well be an alien species given that the environments today are completely different to what they were millions of years ago
 
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Grim5 said:
Dinosaurs have been extinct for too long, introducing them now would not fit into any biodiversity found on the planet; the dinosaurs would completely decimate every habitat they are introduced to - they may as well be an alien species given that the environments today are completely different to what they were millions of years ago
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It's not a dinosaur.
 
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