I have no desire to restore dinosaurs, they are very resilient and survived a LONG time. Also no large predators.
On the other hand, Dodo Birds, Mammoths, Passenger Pidgeons, come to mind. Dodos lived on unpopulated islands and were killed by hungry sailors. They could be reestablished on a unpopulated island. Mammoths in Siberia, or perhaps on a large Arctic island where the last mammoths died only 8,000 years ago (more isolated and safer). The PPs were a major source of food to our early US settlers. Because they seem to only breed in large flocks, when they became too few from overhunting they died out, Establishing a reproducing flock (perhaps 500 individuals) would be quite difficult. Also since they are migratory, legal jurisdictions and protection would be more difficult even if such numbers could be regenerated. I suspect we will get to Mars sooner.
Yeah, bringing back the dodo would be pretty cool. Mammoths, too.
I remember reading early settlers’ accounts of passenger pigeon migrations. They said the sky was darkened by them for a couple of days as the huge numbers of them flew overhead. It must have been quite the sight, and I was sad they had gone extinct. The settlers had a few things to say about their droppings, too, but I’ll leave it at that.
The Passenger Pigeon roosted in geographically limited areas for their mating season, and the hunters just showed up for it and gunned them down, selling the carcasses for use as squab in east coast hotels and other restaurants. Regardless, it was a d***ed pigeon.
There’s a long shot at reviving a genetically narrow version of it, from old feather pillows and museum type specimens, but again, it was a d***ed pigeon.
There’s at least two active programs to revive the full-sized mammoths. Pygmy mammoths were still around in very small numbers (the constraint was the food supply) a mere 2000 years ago.
I’d like to see the revival of the auroch, but as in all these examples, I can live without it.
BTW, note that this is a TEDx talk, given by a lawyer, not a scientist.