Braingle: 'Extinction?' Brain Teaser

Extinction?

Science brain teasers require understanding of the physical or biological world and the laws that govern it.

Puzzle ID:	#7836
Fun:	(2.7)
Difficulty:	(2.36)
Category:	Science
Submitted By:	FBrstw

There is an animal that could become extinct tomorrow, but next year there could be thousands or even millions of them. Can you name the animal?

Note: no cloning is involved.

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Comments

sailingwrestler Oct 08, 2002	I like that....I think that I could of got it if I would of took a couple more minutes to think about it.
(user deleted) Oct 15, 2002	If there were a global catastrophe, all species could be extinct within a year.
im_para_noid Oct 24, 2002	just a note, it could be a lot of animals that are made when two animals, such as a horse and cow, mate and make a different third animal. take the tiger muskey for example.
im_para_noid Oct 24, 2002	but I still say that it is a good teaser.
quinnomatic Oct 30, 2002	not bad. weird but not bad.
AbdulAziz Nov 04, 2002	I thought of mosquito but then mosquito is not an animal good
poppycat Nov 04, 2002	Although it had more than one answer and isn't exactly a teaser (more of just a fact), it is good. Oh, and a mosquito isn't the answer, but it is technically an animal.
jucy-lu Nov 04, 2002	how do you figure that a mosquito is 'technically' an animal?
meaix Jan 24, 2003	First off, I thought of a starfish. They will reproduce through regeneration so if you took one and chopped it into it's subsequent arms they would all grow into full mature starfish. As for mosquitos--They are class insecta which are members of Phylum Arthoropoda which is a further subdivision of Kingdom Anamalia. No doubt about it, mosquitos are animals just as all insects are. In fact, they make up the largest number of animals. One last question--im_para_noid. What the hell would you get if you mated a cow and a horse. You must live on a very interesting farm.
Cattleman7x7 Aug 21, 2003	a mosquito is an animal because it is part of the animalia kingdom. it's not technically an animal, it is an animal.
Bobbrt Aug 26, 2003	I don't think starfish works, meaix, because in your scenario they are not "extinct", they are just "in pieces". And I, too will jump on the bandwagon and reiterate that mosquitos are of course animals.
timmyboym Nov 04, 2003	There may be a science experiment on how to create mosquios, and if all the mosquitos were extinct tomorrow, and then the next day the experiment was successful, and they created a mosquito which bred to creature hundreds...thousands...millions... (This could be any animal)
yogi Nov 04, 2003	What about maggots?
ttrules Nov 04, 2003	there could be lots of other animals
rachmoose Nov 05, 2003	ummmmm. guys you can't mate a cow and a horse. It wouldn't work.
howdyall1311 Nov 06, 2003	Good teaser, many answers as some have said, but still good, mule is probably the most common. And as for the mosquitos becoming extinct, what would make anyone want to bring them back?
xiaobaby Nov 07, 2003	lol to mating a cow and a horse. cross breed may not mean a cow mating a horse. its like taking the genes and breeding genetically? i tot of a single-celled asexual organism like amoeba or something and reproduce it self the next day?
Steve1973 Sep 21, 2005	I was thinking of something along the lines of: Chickens. If they go extinct, the eggs could still hatch. (Or any egg laying creature.) Anything that Metamorphs. (All butterflies die, and caterpillers change into them afterwards). Or something that can survive suspended animation -- like larva of insects. (Freeze something like a helgamite, and it'll live for years before it finally thaws out and becomes a Dolbus Fly.) Perhaps even something like a locust? They die out here, and don't come back for 17 years.... Lots of answers on this one I think.
broken_dreams Apr 28, 2006	it could basically be any hybrid. like a liger or tigon (or mule). lots of things...
vbguy101 Sep 25, 2006
bookworm91 Apr 16, 2007	It could also be a hinny. But, mule is probably the most common hybrid. Great teaser!
Deedee123 Apr 01, 2009	any cross-breed would work. WHy is it called a mule anyway?