Genetic diversity is one of the biggest problems in breeding endangered animals, if all individuals are basically the same then disease is likely to wipe them out, such as with Tasmanian Devils and their facial tumour disease.
I see the use of extinct gene variants to sustain species in the long term as an eventuality for most endangered species, especially the low diversity animals like Cheetahs and Tasmanian Devils. The technology for replacing genes in embryos does exist today, but it's more a case of confidence in the technology and unknown potential side effects. It would not surprise me if India were already doing this with Cheetahs, though I feel this sort of thing being acceptable is more than a few decades away for the western world, despite currently being legal for use on non-humans as I understand it.
In terms of the game, I don't actually play the game, being a console peasant, but I am sort of curious as to opinions on gene editing as a game concept (though I do expect a no). I was thinking that modified animals might have a whole bunch of penalties for the first few generations, so that breeding doesn't become a pointless endeavour and to reflect the present uncertainty on the subject. I'm guessing Cheetahs are just normal animals in the game, so there's not really the intended real life benefit. I was also thinking that alternate skin colours could maybe be among the genes to find, excluding the currently present albinism, either based on real present day variants, extinct subspecies (in the case of lions maybe even a male model) or even fictional colourations.
I see the use of extinct gene variants to sustain species in the long term as an eventuality for most endangered species, especially the low diversity animals like Cheetahs and Tasmanian Devils. The technology for replacing genes in embryos does exist today, but it's more a case of confidence in the technology and unknown potential side effects. It would not surprise me if India were already doing this with Cheetahs, though I feel this sort of thing being acceptable is more than a few decades away for the western world, despite currently being legal for use on non-humans as I understand it.
In terms of the game, I don't actually play the game, being a console peasant, but I am sort of curious as to opinions on gene editing as a game concept (though I do expect a no). I was thinking that modified animals might have a whole bunch of penalties for the first few generations, so that breeding doesn't become a pointless endeavour and to reflect the present uncertainty on the subject. I'm guessing Cheetahs are just normal animals in the game, so there's not really the intended real life benefit. I was also thinking that alternate skin colours could maybe be among the genes to find, excluding the currently present albinism, either based on real present day variants, extinct subspecies (in the case of lions maybe even a male model) or even fictional colourations.
