Word: extinct
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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While this clever visual mechanism seems unique among contemporary creatures, a similar one existed in another, more ancient species: the segmented trilobites, which became extinct 230 million years...
...their fins by poachers who had slashed them off to sell to the soup markets of Asia and had cast the living animals back into the sea to die. Around the world, the numbers of some shark species have declined as much as 80%. Some may already be practically extinct; the survivors in the current generation may be too few to replace themselves...
...these difficulties can be overcome, political campaigns could get pretty interesting. Biologists today are talking of using cloning to bring the woolly mammoth and other extinct animals back to life. Maybe Democrats and Republicans would want to try something similar. After all, candidates are always trying to link themselves to great leaders of the past. Why not cut out the middlemen? Given the pace of scientific progress, plus sufficiently audacious party leaders, the presidential debates of 2044 could feature some pretty impressive lineups. Imagine Abraham Lincoln taking on F.D.R. Or J.F.K. going up against Thomas Jefferson. Or Millard Fillmore...
Researchers hope that by studying the mammoth's genetic makeup they can discover why the species became extinct. But the real fun lies in the thought of watching a mammoth ? or a mammoth-cum-elephant ? rumbling over the plains. As for that possibility, scientists caution that the chance we?ll see one of these creatures in living, breathing form anytime soon remains remote. After all, there?s no certainty that after 23 millennia, the beast?s sperm will be potent, and in any case cloning is very rarely successful. The one sure bet is that Steven Spielberg has already reserved...
...deeply embarrassed," says George Schaller, a renowned biologist who has called attention to the plight of the chirus. "It's not a shawl; it's a shroud." Shame might not stop the trade, but this will: at the current rate of poaching, the species is likely to be extinct within 20 years...