Aesthetic Question

Stephen Hawking thinks humanity should branch out into space to prevent planetwide disasters from wiping out the human race. I remember thinking about this during the Cold War with nukes, now we're talking asteroids and biowar.

Here's the question. If you were setting up a colony on Mars, the Moon, in an orbiting space station, wherever, what other animals would you consider essential to guard against extinction? Assume that it's technically possible and my question is aesthetic; don't worry about spacelifting elephants to orbit, for example, or what good elephants would do humanity. What other animal (other than H. sapiens) would you consider too tragic to lose?

(Thanks, sherahi for the link and inspiration)

Random

Looks like biz travel is hitting again. Boston, next week. Another trip through the Logan security gauntlet (not to mention the Atlanta one).

After that, Florida is definitely calling me. Some crashing of surf is what this boi needs to get his head on straight again. Not to mention some warm weather -- 40 degrees (5C) going into work this morning. The leaves are pretty, but the cold wind is not pleasant.