Frozen zoos preserve the dna of endangered and extinct species in hopes of later recreating them and reintroducing them into the environment. But who wants to go to a zoo full of test tubes in a freezer?

A much more elegant solution, for woody plants, would be to create a bonsai conservatory for endangered trees. Bonsai masters would be hired to take seeds and cuttings from endangered trees in order to recreate them in minature. The smaller sized trees would take up far less space and resources than their full sized wild siblings and preserve their dna for centuries. The bonsai would have the added bonus of being sexually mature and producing seeds that were capable of growing into full sized tree, making reintroduction easier. Lastly, the bonsai conservatory would be a wonderful tourist attraction, perhaps even funding itself through ticket sales.
-- Erfunden, Dec 10 2005

Anything with "bonsai" gets my vote!
-- DesertFox, Dec 10 2005


Mine, too.
-- reensure, Dec 10 2005


Brazil's entire remaining rain forest relocated to a series of pinheads to make space for a McDonalds super ranch. "New GM super cows will be the size of buses and will feed the world" quoted a McDonalds speaker; "And our new forty pounder burgers will each come with a free piece of rainforest in a jar to nurture - we all have to do our bit to preserve the planet"
-- xenzag, Dec 10 2005


Welcome to the HB. Great idea.
-- shapu, Dec 10 2005


Smaller prairies need smaller cows to graze them. Small cows mean less grease. Less grease means you need more palm oil. I don't see any way out.
-- reensure, Dec 10 2005


You'll need miniature monkeys for the banana trees.
-- Madcat, Dec 11 2005


Do bonsai trees produce full-size flowers that can be pollinated, and produce full size seeds that can produce full size trees again?
-- Minimal, Dec 12 2005


//Do bonsai trees produce full-size flowers that can be pollinated// Good point [minimal] - we'll need bonsai bees too.
-- coprocephalous, Dec 12 2005


Yeah, but who's gonna volunteer to be the one to trim them down to size?
-- shapu, Dec 12 2005


Yes, [minimal], the flowers and fruit on bonsai are full size and fully mature. Unless the bonsai is made out of a genitically dwarfed or fruitless specimin.
-- Erfunden, Dec 12 2005


I tried to do a bonsai redwood, once...here in San Diego. It did not work out...
-- normzone, Dec 13 2005


And they charged all the people A dollar and a half just to see 'em
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 13 2005



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