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Genetic Experimentation on Animals - The Stuff of Science Thriller Fiction or Fact?
With Guest: James Rollins, Veterinarian and author of "Altar of Eden"
Original Air Date: 01-08-2010
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In today's episode, we will talk to James Rollins about the writing of his newly released book," Altar of Eden." It's a non-stop science based action thriller that introduces us to the world of genetically altered animals, with its main character being a veterinarian. Are the animal characters we meet far fetched and only from the imagination of James Rollins or is there fact behind this fiction?
You can see a Youtube Video of James Rollins talking about himself on my talkzone home page.
(photo courtesy of Harper Collins Publishers)
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Three types of animals in particular are characters in this provocative, scary and cool story. This is a photo of a female jaguar and her cub.
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You'll read about a set of brown capuchin monkeys from South America.
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An African Grey Parrot with the name of Igor, has extraordinary intelligence, even for an African Grey.
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A jaguar cub in the "Altar of Eden" is no regular jaguar. It has the teeth of a saber-toothed tiger, an animal that has been extinct for thousands of years. Impossible? James Rollins introduces, in his story, the idea of "genetic throwbacks", (scientific term "atavism.") This is a real phenomenon where a genetic trait, lost for generations, reappears in an individual. This photo is a close up of a saber-tooth cat head on display at the American National History Museum, New York. The fangs of a saber-toothed tiger could have been up to 10-12 inches long.
(photo by Wallace 63- Creative Commons Attribution- Share Alike 3.0)
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From James Rollins, "In this novel, one of the many creatures featured is a python born with reptilian limbs, a throwback to a time before the snake's ancestor lost its legs. I thought I was making this creature up, but a couple of months ago, I stumbled upon a scientific article about a Chinese snake with a fully functional limb poking out of its flank." This is a picture of the snake in that article that grew a foot out of its body. For more on this here is the website article.
(photo by CEN/Europics)
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The organization that the lead character, a veterinarian named Dr. Lorna Polk works for, the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species, (ACRES) is a real place in New Orleans. Their mission is to safeguard endangered animals for future generations through innovative scientific programs that accelerate reproduction and preserve the earth's genetic heritage. This is a photo of one of their labs.
(photo courtesy of Audubon Nature Institute)
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In "Altar of Eden", James Rollins main character, Dr. Lorna Polk, "oversees the facility's frozen zoo." This is a photo of one of the real life frozen zoo tanks from the Audubon Center of Research of Endangered Species (ACRES).
(photo courtesy of Audubon Nature Institute)
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Some of the actual work that has been done at ACRES has been to clone African wildcats. This is the cat, Ditteaux (pronounced ditto) a clone of the African Wildcat Jazz and father of the new litters.
(photo courtesty of Audubon Nature Center)
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A picture of a litter of wildcat kittens born from cloned African wildcat parents.
(photo courtesy of Audubon Nature Institute)
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One of ACRES success stories in saving one species from almost certain extinction, is their Mississippi Sandhill Crane program. This program traveled full circle from insemination to birth to release back into the wild. Here is one of their sandhill crane chicks.
(photo courtesy of Audubon Nature Institute)
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Using animals for military purposes is a reality. The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program (NMMP) studies the military use of marine mammals, mostly Bottlenose Dolphins and California Sea Lions and trains them to perform such tasks as ship and harbor protection, mine detection and clearance and equipment recovery. For more information on this, see this entry on Wikipedia. This is a photo of a Bottlenose dolphin of the MNNP on mine clearance operations with a locator beacon attached to his flipper. He is leaping out of the water in front of Sgt. Andrew Garrett while traiing near the USS Gunston Hall (LSD44) in the Persian Gulf.
(U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's mate 1st class, Brien Aho.)
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One of the sea lion's assetts is their precise underwater vision that has been put to use to find naval swimmers and to locate and attach recovey hardware to underwater objects.
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A close up of sea lions faces.
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Referring to the topic of cloning written about in the "Altar of Eden", this is a photo of Copy Cat, the first cloned pet animal.
(photo courtesy of Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine)
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Transgenic organisms are ones that have DNA inserted in them that originate in different species. This bull named Herman, was the first non-human mammal with human DNA and also the first transgenically engineered animal. He lived from Dec. 1990 to April 2004. His creation stirred a ethical storm. His body is on exhibit in the Nature Museum of Natural History in Leiden, Netherlands. For more about Herman the Bull
(photo by Peter Maas, Creative Common Attribution Share Alike 3.0)
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Genetic engineering occurs all the time and appears to be widely accepted in the creation of dog breeds. The currently popular "designer" breeds are a perfect example of this. Here is a puggle, a mix of a pug and a beagle.
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I have very mixed feelings when wild animals are used to create new dogs and cat breeds. This is an African Serval, a wild cat.
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A male African Serval was originally bred with a domestic Siamese cat, creating this new breed, the domestic Savannah.
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These are glo fish, the first genetically modified animal to be sold as a pet. They are bred from the offspring of genetically engineered fluorescent zebra fish.
(photo courtesy of www.glofish.com)
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 James Rollins is the authority on smart, science-based thrillers. As a practicing doctor of veterinary medicine who studied evolutionary biology, Rollins uses his medical and scientific knowledge to write novels that meld cutting edge science and technology with history and religion, and creates books that are as authentic and smart as they are entertaining. He is the author of six thrillers in the bestselling Sigma Force Series (Sandstorm, Map of Bones, Black Order, The Judas Strain, The Last Oracle, and The Doomsday Key); the blockbuster movie novelization, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: and five individual adventure thrillers. Publication date for his sixth individual adventure, Altar of Eden, was December 29, 2009. Rollins also writes the Jake Ransom series for kids and adults. The first volume, Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow, is in bookstores now, and the next release, Jake Ransom and the Howling Sphinx, is due in Spring, 2010. |
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Additional Resources
For more information about the real work the Audubon Center For Research of Endangered Species (ACRES) does, visit their website.
Let's watch this!! ACRES will have a segment on the television show, 60 minutes, on CBS, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010. Here are details. Check your television guide listing for the time of the broadcast.
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