Considering the imperfect science of cloning, de­extinction would cause animals suffering. Most animals born of such experiments would suffer serious diseases, dying soon after birth or having a shortened lifetime. Spanish and French scientists worked for years to bring the Pyrenean ibex, a species of wild goat, back from extinction by cloning. In 2009, they succeeded only in producing a sick baby goat that died 10 minutes after birth. For these animals to be born, other animals would live in captivity, in a lab or elsewhere, and serve as mother substitutes (代用品)，routinely having operations as part of the cloning process. For example, elephants would be kept in captivity to carry woolly mammoth (猛犸) babies for nearly two years. Such experiments often lead to other animals' unhappiness as well.

　　If extinct animals are successfully brought back, where would they go? Their original habitats have developed and changed without them. They are unlikely to survive in the natural environment, but, if they do manage to survive, they will affect their environment in unpredictable ways, presenting a new threat to the ecological system. If the animals born through de­extinction are stuck in zoos and museums instead, what good is that? It is exploitation, not a solution.

　　It would be better to apply creative thinking about protection to the real­life problems of today's world. De­extinction takes attention away from the difficult situation of endangered animals. Discussions about woolly mammoth cloning do nothing to stop the illegal killings of endangered wild African elephants. Money would be better used to prevent human conflict with wildlife and their ecosystems.

　　Let's keep de­extinction in the world of science fiction, learn from our failed past, and protect wild animals and their habitats for the future.

　　24．The underlined word "it" in Paragraph 1 refers to " "．

A．de­extinction