Minimal: Miniaturized Elephant in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Minimals: Saving the Biodiversity of Charismatic Megafauna by Miniaturization
by Quixote
The grand conservation purpose served by national parks around the world benefits from the preservation of biodiversity. Because this requires public approval either by shared cultural values or diktat of wise government, it pays to focus conservation efforts on the charismatic megafauna, those big animals that make such great plush velvet toys for children. Loving the panda, tigers, elephants and lions we conserve their natural home, and that preserves the Nature of their home; the ecosystem entwined with creepy crawlies, tangled vegetation and fungal rots that are the foundation of Nature, to nobly conserve for Mankind natural wonders to refresh his spirit and his resources, even the very air we breath.
However, the human population is growing, for now, and the national parks are under siege and it may be that the best efforts to protect a biome may fail in the face of a flood of human refugees from disasters natural or man-made. The losses from such disasters could be the extinction of the charismatic megafauna, and with their loss the m'eh moment of apathetic resignation for the eradication of the lot: after all, if the forest was there for the King of the Jungle and the King is dead, the forest would, in the public mind, then be open for the fin de siècle exploitation to its seeming irrelevant and irrevocable destruction.
The international zoo system makes it possible for such disasters to be minor set-backs in the grand conservation effort: we can re-introduce species to their biomes. However, the resources of the zoos are also subject to the same destructive forces that threaten the national parks, and also the fickle constraints of annual budgets from public and philanthropic funds. A shortfall doesn't simply mean the zoo has to reduce costs, it may have to cull the animals in their collection to continue operating.
A possible solution is to significantly reduce the costs required for setting up and maintaining a breeding population; i.e., make it affordable and fashionable for people to keep a zoo in their apartment on residential and commercial "green roofs. " This could de done by Genetically Modifying the Charismatic Mega-fauna to reduce their size. This would greatly reduce the resources needed to keep zoos, and would make it possible for millions of house holds to contribute significantly to the conservation movement. Imagine the popularity of tigers and lions, cheetahs and panthers if they were the size of gerbils. Pocket sized Mountain Gorillas in room size terrariums would insure their survival against loss of natural habitat. Elephants the size of kittens would enjoy the vast plains of suburban living-rooms. Whales could be kept in aquariums.
Then, when needed, the process of miniaturization could be reversed, and the minimals restored to their normal size and re-introduced to the wild.
Wouldn't you like to keep your very own Noah's Ark in your backyard?
Minimals: an idea whose time has come.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Doomsday Ark
• Georgia Guidestones
• Noah's Ark
• Elephants
• minimals
• tiny tigers
• backyard
• zoo