It is technically classified as a new type of quagga, however, and not the old type brought back to life.
Do we have the old quagga's DNA to compare, or is the comparison done with macroproperties, making it rather subjective?
gastric brooding frog
Sounds like a combination of at least 2 of the ancient Greek humors...
We do have some quagga DNA, I believe, but much of the standard for breeding was phenotypical as well.
The gastric brooding frog is a real weirdo- or was, before it went extinct. The mother actually stores the fertilized eggs in her stomach while they grow, then vomits up tadpoles once they hatch. (The digestive process shuts off while she's carrying them.)
I was wondering about the quagga myself, I keep thinking of phenotypic reconstructions as a separate thing from dna resurrection.
I mean, they sort of are different, but in a sense they sort of count as well- species are mutable, not some set genome.
There's two and 1/2 parts to this for me, but first let me say that I'm all for phenotype reconstructions when other methods are not suited.
First, the molecular biologist in me just feels it's 'messy'. More to the point (and the 0.5 reason) is that it may recapture appearances, but I have to imagine a lot biochemical diversity is lost through this route.
Second, the philosopher in me has long since found my subjective truth to answer Theseus's paradox - existence is not static, rather it is a continuous transition between states. As such, the transitions are as important as the state and it is the continuity of the transitions which defines identity. Based on that, admittedly personal criterion, there's profound philosophical difference between direct genetic clones and backbreeding.
Life is pretty messy, so it doesn't bug me too much. :)
Now THAT's a perfect context for bringing up Theseus' ship! A damn good answer to it as well. Here's an interesting question, however: if we de-extinct a creature that possessed culture- that is, taught non-instinctive behaviors- they clearly wouldn't carry that culture with them. How would that loss affect their continuation as a species with your answer to the Ship of Theseus problem? (Mammoths are a great example- they almost certainly had culture in the same way that elephants do.)
Blew my mind a little when I read this. From the purely genetic issue, it doesn't affect my opinion. It does however raise some interesting points on what, exactly, conservation should be. It's also an excellent story prompt and I've got at least three plot ideas bouncing around now (for that day when I actually get around to sitting down and writing fiction).