And this general desire to āsaveā species doesnāt always hold up. Consider:
A common willingness to eradicate disease-carrying mosquitoes
Strains of lab rats bred for specific research purposes, then killed off
Little concern about purposefully breeding new species, or reclassifying existing ones
If we valued the sheer diversity or number of species, then the above wouldnāt happen. So what makes a group of animals āspecialā enough to warrant concern, over and above the individuals within it?
Some conservationists do bite the bullet of opposing the eradication of disease-carrying mosquitoes. I think those rat strains would typically not be considered a separate species. There is interest in de-extinction, though I donāt know if that qualifies as breeding new species. Some people classify domestic dogs as a separate species from wolves, and I think itās interesting to think about how humans could create new species to somewhat compensate for past extinctions.
Some conservationists do bite the bullet of opposing the eradication of disease-carrying mosquitoes. I think those rat strains would typically not be considered a separate species. There is interest in de-extinction, though I donāt know if that qualifies as breeding new species. Some people classify domestic dogs as a separate species from wolves, and I think itās interesting to think about how humans could create new species to somewhat compensate for past extinctions.