The Pyrenean ibex was gone — that is, until about one year later, when scientists attempted to revive the species, as IFL Science reports. Scientists had captured the female ibex that was later found dead. Cellular samples were taken from several points on the animal’s body and preserved in deep freeze. No one knew if cloning an animal — extinct or not — could produce viable offspring. Aware of recent success cloning sheep, scientists tried to clone that bucardo, and by doing so, return an animal from extinction for the first time in history, a process called “de-extinction,” according to Forbes. In the process, 500 cloned ibex embryos were implanted in about 150 goats, and scientists waited.
It seemed at first that the experiment was a success. Five of the sheep became impregnated, and one delivered a living, breathing, Pyrenean ibex. With encouraging vital signs, the Pyrenean ibex, it seemed, was saved from extinction and could roam the Earth once more, just as scientists hoped. Their joy was not long lasting. Only a matter of seconds after the incredible animal was born, it died, unable to breathe with an extra lobe in her lung. This was not an unexpected outcome. As Jose Folch, a scientist involved in the experiment later wrote, “Physical defects in the lungs as well as in other organs have also been reported in neonatal cloned sheep that failed to survive” (via Forbes).
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