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Over the past week, the media have been inundated with news of the "de-extinction" of the dire wolf (恐狼) — a species that went extinct about 13,000 years ago. The breakthrough has been achieved by Colossal Biosciences (巨神生物科学公司), a multibillion-dollar United States company that claims their goal is to restore biodiversity through the de-extinction of species. The project is being debated and marketed as a conservation win. But does this technology really have the best interests of conservation in mind? We argue as ecologists that genetic advancements like these, while they are major scientific and technological feats, still risk minimizing the severity of the current extinction crisis. Importantly, they take away focus from proven conservation efforts that are needed to protect the biodiversity that remains.
过去一周，各大媒体铺天盖地都是恐狼“复活” 的相关新闻 ——这是一种在大约13000年前就已灭绝的物种。巨神生物科学（Colossal Biosciences）是一家市值数十亿美元的公司，公司的目标就是通过复活灭绝物种，恢复生物多样性，恐狼复活项目正是该公司的手笔。目前，巨神生物科学将广受争议的恐狼复活项目宣传成物种保护领域的一大进步。但是这项复活技术真的是为了促进物种保护事业吗？作为生态学家，我们认可这类基因技术进步的确算是重大科技成就，但仍具有风险，会淡化当下物种灭绝危机的严峻程度，更会分散大众对当下物种保护工作的注意力，让人们忽视为了守护现存生物多样性而做出的实实在在的努力。
First, it is important to recognize that the three "dire wolf" pups created are not actually dire wolves. Colossal carried out 20 edits in 14 genes of the grey wolf genome to create their "dire wolves" using a genetic technique called CRISPR-Cas9. The grey wolf's genome is 2.4 billion base pairs (碱基对) long. Would we consider a chimpanzee, with which we share 98.8% of our genome, to be human after 20 edits? The reality is that there are three slightly modified grey wolves.
首先，要知道三只“恐狼”幼崽其实不是真正的恐狼。巨神生物运用 CRISPR-Cas9 基因编辑技术，对灰狼基因组内 14 个基因位点完成了 20 处基因编辑，这才造出了这几只所谓的 “恐狼”，而灰狼完整基因组包含多达 24 亿个碱基对。黑猩猩和人类的基因组相似程度达到了98.8%，若是对黑猩猩也进行20处基因编辑，我们就能将黑猩猩视作人类吗？事实上，这三只幼崽不过是基因被轻微编辑的灰狼而已。
This de-extinction project has had millions of dollars poured into it—amounts of money most conservation programs could only dream of. There are proven solutions to help reverse biodiversity loss: habitat protection and restoration, the control of invasive species and the phasing out of fossil fuels. However, those solutions are not slickly marketed as shiny, techno-fix packages like de-extinction. Instead, they are heavily underfunded.
恐狼复活项目的投入资金达到了数百万美元——这是大多数物种保护项目梦寐以求的资金规模。目前已有多项经实践验证、能够遏制生物多样性衰退的方案：保护和修复栖息地、控制入侵物种、逐步淘汰化石燃料。可是，这些方案却没有像物种复活技术一样，被包装成光鲜亮丽、一劳永逸的高科技手段，相反，物种保护项目面临着巨大的资金缺口。
Promoting extinction as reversible risks downplaying its gravity and legacy. Headlines like the one that appeared on the front cover of TIME magazine—with the word "extinct" crossed out—seed a false hope that no matter what environmental damage is done, species loss can be easily undone. The risk is that de-extinction will be used as an ultimate offset for any environment impact. It is what makes fighting biodiversity loss such an urgent concern, so much so that people risk their lives to prevent it, with 150 wildlife rangers dying each year around the world in their fight to protect endangered species. Framing extinction as temporary creates false hope and undermines motivation for real conservation action.
鼓吹物种灭绝可以逆转，这是在弱化灭绝事件本身的严重性和造成的后果。恐狼复活一事登上了《时代》杂志封面——“灭绝”一词被划掉——像这样的新闻头条会给人们带来幻觉，无论环境遭受了何种破坏，已灭绝的物种都可以轻易复活，这就是这种宣传所带来的风险。到最后，无论环境受到何种影响，人们都会说反正可以复活灭绝物种，以此抵消环境所受到的破坏。这也是为什么，应对物种多样性丧失已迫在眉睫，甚至为了防止物种丧失，人们还付出了生命的代价，每年全球有150名野生动物巡护员为了保护濒危物种而牺牲。倘若说物种灭绝只是暂时性的，那就会给人制造虚假的希望，削弱人们投身真实保护行动的动力。
We might already be seeing this happen in response to the "de-extinction" of the dire wolf. Interior Secretary of the US administration, Doug Burgum (道格·伯古姆), praised the new biotechnology advancement and used it as an argument for the removal of the US Endangered Species Act. What good is bringing back species if there are no protective laws to address the drivers of their declines? It is deeply ironic that while millions are being spent recreating a dire wolf proxy, its cousin, the grey wolf, is heavily persecuted globally; other predators are affected, too. In Australia, the dingo, which has been shown to suppress invasive cats and red foxes, helping native biodiversity, is also heavily persecuted.
从外界对恐狼“复活”这件事的反应上，我们或许就能看到这样的苗头。美国内政部长道格·伯古姆（Doug Burgum）对这种生物科技进步表示赞扬，同时却利用该技术作为说辞，主张废除《美国濒危物种法案》。可如果没有相关的保护性法律来解决造成物种数量下降的问题，那复活物种又有何意义？数百万美元都投入到了复活假恐狼的项目上，而与此同时，恐狼近亲灰狼却在全球各地正遭到大肆捕杀，讽刺至极，其他掠食动物也同样难逃厄运。人们发现，澳大利亚野犬可以帮助抑制外来野猫和赤狐的种群数量，保护本土生物多样性，却同样却惨遭大量猎杀。
If we can't safeguard or protect habitat for apex predators today, in ecosystems that are already under immense pressure, what kind of world would we be bringing extinct species back into? Up to 150 species are considered to go extinct every day. No amount of genetic tech will solve this unless we address the root causes: habitat destruction, over-exploitation and climate change. The de-extinction of the dire wolf may sound like a conservation breakthrough, but it risks distracting us from the protection of our current living species. This approach turns biodiversity conservation into a billionaire's Jurassic Park fantasy instead of addressing the crisis we already know how to fix.
生态系统已经遭受巨大压力，如果我们无力为今天的顶级掠食动物守护好它们的栖息地，就算复活灭绝物种复活，它们来到的会是一个怎样的世界？如今，每天有高达150种物种灭绝。再多的基因技术都无法解决物种消亡，除非我们可以从根源上着手，去解决栖息地破坏、过度捕杀以及气候变化。复活恐狼听起来或许像是物种保护工作的一大突破，但却有可能让我们从而忽视对现有物种的保护工作。灭绝物种复活技术的出现，非但没有处理好我们已有成熟应对方案的生态危机，反而让生物多样性保护工作沦为了亿万富翁实现《侏罗纪公园》幻想的手段。
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