Report of workshop held during University Exhibition, Zagreb, November 13th to 15th, 2025

 

At the table of the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Zagreb Exhibition, employees of the Division of Animal Science held a workshop for visitors titled “Can we revive extinct animals?”. The workshop introduced visitors to the basics of archaeogenetics, a young interdisciplinary science that combines genetics, archaeology and animal sciences. The tools and protective equipment needed to work in an ancient DNA laboratory were presented, along with a demonstration on skeletal models of how biological material is processed and a description of the procedure when conducting a study on animal aDNA (ancient DNA). Finally, visitors heard a brief history of attempts and achievements in biotechnology and archaeogenetics in reviving extinct species and were encouraged to think and discuss the ethics and feasibility of such an endeavor.