Chris Hemsworth hypes revival of extinct, ‘iconic’ Tasmanian tiger

nypost.com:

so-called “de-extinction” company, has come in. Their team of genetic engineers has a plan to re-introduce the foregone species back to its home territory, where it can once again serve to revitalize the currently unbalanced ecosystem.

And Hemsworth, for one, couldn’t be more psyched about the return of the Tassie tiger.“The removal of an apex predator, especially due to human eradication, has a devastating effect on our ecosystem and contributes to such issues such as the spread of disease, overpopulation of certain species and the disruption of native plant life,” Hemsworth, 38, told The Post.

His family, including brothers Liam and Luke, have a “long history of supporting conservationist efforts,” he explained, including those which helped reintroduce the endangered Tasmanian devil last year. “Returning iconic species such as the Tassie tiger remain top priority,” the Marvel Cinematic Universe heartthrob added.The star-powered announcement, with added support from noted environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio’s Re:wild organization, comes amid similar plans by Colossal to see the woolly mammoth returned to the world.But don’t count on seeing any Tasmanian tigers, or woolly mammoths, at your local zoo anytime soon — that’s not what this is about.“The impacts of the loss of the thylacine can already be seen with the rapid spread of new diseases like the Tasmanian devil facial tumor disease which almost led to the extinction of another marsupial species,” said Andrew Pask, Ph.D., who runs the Thylacine Integrated Genetic Restoration Research Lab the University of Melbourne.

Colossal’s team enlisted Pask to lead the project.Pask told The Post that the Tasmanian tiger’s return isn’t just a scientific stunt — and fixing a broken.