Following last year’s woolly mammoth genome in Nature and the raft of coverage about the potential for Jurassic Park-style resurrections, the British press is getting in a tizzy over a list of 10 extinct animals we could see again.

The list – which includes Neanderthals and the dodo – has been produced by New Scientist, which says:

Assuming that we will develop the necessary technology, we have selected 10 extinct creatures that might one day be resurrected. Our choice is based not just on feasibility, but also on each animal’s “megafaunal charisma” – just how exciting the prospect of resurrecting these animals is.

Even those quoted in the article are not entirely convinced by the choices. “I find the idea of resurrecting the Neanderthal so ridiculous that any speculation on surrogate mothers is superfluous,” says Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

Sadly the magazine has not attempted to factor in another key consideration, namely how tasty these things might be to eat.

Full list and coverage below the fold.

Full list

1. Neanderthal man

2. Sabre-toothed tiger

3. Short-faced bear

4. Tasmanian tiger

5. Glyptodon

6. Dodo

7. Woolly rhinoceros

8. Giant ground sloth

9. Irish elk

10. Moa

Coverage

Could long-gone beasts rise from the dead? – Scotsman

Extinct animals could be brought back to life thanks to advances in DNA technology – Daily Telegraph

The beasts we could raise from the dead: Return of the mammoth is ‘only a matter of time’ – Daily Mail

Extinct beasts ‘may be resurrected’ – PA (which says the list is of 50 animals)

Image: the dodo: coming soon to a dinner plate near you? / via Wikimedia