Can Cloning Lions Really Help Save Them?

In an attempt to save the endangered Asiatic lion, the Indian state of Gujarat has set up a new gene bank to store the species’ genetic information. Besides cataloguing lion DNA, the premises also includes a cloning facility, which raises the question of whether or not cloning as yet serves as a viable method for species conservation.

A few months ago, the topic of de-extinction via cloning caused some controversy amidst news that scientists planned to clone a wooly mammoth. Motherboard’s Austin Considine detailed a few of the apprehensions scientists have with the notion of resurrecting a long-dead species.

De-extinction concerns focus on “playing God,” the problems of creating homes for revived creatures, and prioritizing the already extinct over the currently endangered. But the species in question are already dead and gone, so there is a notable lack of urgency in these discussions.

Cloning for conservation, on the other hand, demands immediacy because conservation itself demands immediacy. Questions in this field focus more on the efficacy of the cloning procedure, the costs of research and development, and the danger of portraying cloning as an antidote to endangerment and extinction. So while the scientific principles may be similar, de-extinction cloning and conservation cloning pose very different ethical issues.

The general consensus on cloning among those in the know is that it is currently too inefficient, too prone to failure, and too impractical to be a reliable vehicle for conservation. As noted by Scientific American, cloning does not address the underlying causes for extinction, such as hunting and habitat destruction. Furthermore, success rates for cloning wild animals usually fall around one percent or less due to frequent developmental abnormalities among cloned individuals and embryos. Despite these bleak numbers, some researchers genuinely worry that the romance of cloning may drain funds from projects that show far more promise.

That being said, at least in theory, clones could enhance genetic variation among populations in need if the DNA of "unrelated individuals or individuals of known genotype or phenotype from preserved cell nuclei" were available and used, thereby making the species as a whole stronger in the face of mutation or disease. More obviously, cloning could also contribute sheer numbers to a group of animals that is otherwise dwindling.

But while cloning is apparently not the most efficient or auspicious proposed conservation solution around, it doesn’t seem like an awful idea to at least have a bank of cataloged DNA if the funds exist. If cloning or any other genetic-based technology can one day substantially assist in conservation or other worthy projects, then Gujarat will be ready and so will the Asiatic lion, or at least its DNA.