[2026] PTE Academic Reading - Multiple Choice, Single Answer

The pursuit of 'de-extinction' through CRISPR and other gene-editing technologies has moved from the pages of science fiction to the realm of high-stakes biological research. Proponents argue that resurrecting keystone species, like the woolly mammoth or the passenger pigeon, could restore balance to degraded ecosystems and offer a powerful tool against the current biodiversity crisis. However, this technological optimism overlooks the ethical and ecological complexity of reintroducing long-gone organisms into a world that has moved on. A mammoth is not simply its genome; it is a creature that requires a social structure and an environment that may no longer exist. Furthermore, the immense financial resources dedicated to de-extinction could be more effectively utilized to protect currently endangered species that are still salvageable. To focus on the dead while the living are neglected is to prioritize the spectacle of human ingenuity over the messy, urgent reality of conservation. True environmental stewardship lies not in the hubris of biological resurrection, but in the humility of protecting the biodiversity we still have.