this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2023
1964 points (90.4% liked)
Memes
45660 readers
1116 users here now
Rules:
- Be civil and nice.
- Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
In the wild.
Yeah but where with all the animals?
An interesting tangent is that this could entail the extinction of several human-designed strains of animal which are not well equipped to live in the wild.
So mote it be I guess.
Base genetics are still around for the chicken, pig, and sheep, but the Aurochs's extinction means we irrevocably altered the cow. I'm sure a few varieties of cow would adapt to the wild though.
Buffalo may need to keep their vestigial wings too.
More broadly, the answer is that it doesn't really matter that much. Species go extinct all the time, and with humans around the rate has been astronomically higher. Replacing animal products with plant based or cell based products might even have a net benefit in extinctions, since land that would otherwise go towards feeding and raising livestock could instead be let back to nature.