But this study marked the first time that RNA - much less stable than DNA - has been recovered from an extinct species. While not the focus of this research, the ability to extract, sequence and analyze old RNA could boost efforts by other scientists toward recreating extinct species. The Tasmanian tiger resembled a wolf, aside from the tiger-like stripes on its back. The last-known Tasmanian tiger succumbed in a Tasmanian zoo in 1936. Private "de-extinction" initiatives have been launched aimed at resurrecting certain extinct species such as the Tasmanian tiger, dodo or woolly mammoth.

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Persons: Emilio Marmol Sanchez, Handout, bioinformatician Emilio Mármol Sánchez, Marc Friedländer, Love, Mármol, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Swedish Museum of, REUTERS Acquire, Tasmanian, Palaeogenetics, Genome Research, Stockholm University, SciLifeLab, Thomson Locations: Stockholm, SciLifeLab, Sweden, Australia, Tasmania, Tasmanian, Washington