Bits and Bites from Around the World > Can the Dodo Bird be resurrected from extinction?

 

‘De-extinction’ of the dodo: Company to try resurrecting long-extinct bird

By Sarah Do Couto  Global News

Posted December 1, 2023 12:15 pm

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FILE - A 19th century illustration of a dodo. The company Colossal Biosciences announced in

November 2023 it would attempt to de-extinct the iconic bird and return the species to Mauritius. 

Getty Images via Andrew Howe

Not too unlike the plot of the movie Jurassic Park, a team of well-funded scientists are attempting to bring the extinct dodo back to life.

Last month, the billion-dollar genetics company Colossal Biosciences announced it would be partnering with a wildlife charity in Mauritius to try and bring one of the world’s most famously extinct creatures to the region again.

In a press release, the Dallas-based company said it would work closely with the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and the country’s government to return the dodo to its East African home, where it went extinct in 1681.

The company called the dodo  an “iconic bird and a symbol of human-caused extinction.”

The dodo, which was bigger than an average turkey, disappeared due to hunting by humans (it had no other predators) and the introduction of new animals to the region, making the dodo unable to compete in the wild.

Colossal Biosciences said the project will hopefully allow for improved conservation efforts for other already endangered animals in Mauritius. As part of their effort to revive and reinstate the dodo, the company and local wildlife officials said they will also remove invasive species, revegetate the region and increase community awareness.

The “genetic rescue” of Mauritius’ already vulnerable pink pigeon (Nesoenas mayeri) is a specific goal within the dodo “de-extinction” project. The pink pigeon was downgraded from being an endangered species in 2018, though the species still faces a difficult future as a result of inbreeding, disease and habitat loss. According to Colossal Biosciences, there are roughly 500 pink pigeons left in Mauritius.

By making room for the flightless dodo, conservationists and scientists from Colossal Biosciences hope they’ll save others like the pink pigeon from potentially facing the same fate.

A pink pigeon. Mauritius Wildlife Foundation

How will they make the dodo ‘de-extinct’?

As expected, it’s no easy feat to resurrect an extinct animal.

In their attempt to bring the dodo back, scientists will use genomic editing technology. The bird’s full genome has already been sequenced by Beth Shapiro, the lead paleo-geneticist at Colossal Biosciences.

To try and produce the dodo, the company said they will use interspecies surrogacy, namely with genetically modified chickens. According to the company, in theory, a chicken which has the hybridized primordial germ cells (or PGCs) of a dodo injected into its embryo may be able to produce offspring that resembles the extinct bird.

For its part, Mauritian Wildlife Foundation will build models for long-term management of the dodo to ensure it will thrive and be self-sustainable after its reintroduction to the wild.

It is not yet clear when Colossal Biosciences will be able to “de-extinct” the dodo — though company executives have fielded snide remarks about their projects for years now, including endless Jurassic Park comparisons.

“We’ve heard all of those comments over the years,” Ben Lamm, the company’s co-founder and CEO, told the Dallas Morning News. “But we have an opportunity to do it for good reasons because when you remove an animal from an ecosystem, that ecological void is felt. We’re not out to build things that shouldn’t exist. We’re focused on undoing the sins of the past and bringing back species to their native homes that mankind had a role in its demise.”

The dodo is not the first creature to be chosen by Colossal Biosciences for a potential second life. The company earlier announced it would also attempt to revive the Tasmanian tiger and woolly mammoth, both of which remain extinct.

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Alberta Creationist Discovers Rare Fish Fossils in Basement

Are they 60 million years old as a paleontologist estimates, 

or are they more like 4,500 years as their discoverer estimates?

Fossilized fish found during excavation in Calgary suburb

An Alberta, Canada man who discovered a school of rare fossilized fish while digging up a Calgary basement believes the world was created by God a few thousand years ago.

It's for that reason Edgar Nernberg doesn't think the fossils could possibly be as old as paleontologists are estimating.

"I subscribe to the creationist position, and I believe they were laid down in Noah's flood, about 4,500 years ago. But we agree to disagree."

He's referring to Darla Zelenitsky, the University of Calgary paleontologist who was brought in to examine the five ancient fish.

She says they likely swam in waters about 60 million years ago, which is the age of the Paskapoo Formation, a sheet of rock that lies under the city.

"I would give it a 10 out of 10 for significance," said Zelenitsky.

Creationist Edgar Nernberg

"There's not very many complete fossils known in rocks of this age in Alberta," she said about the fish, which are each about the size of a wallet.

Nernberg helped build the Big Valley Creation Science Museum and said he's good friends with the owner.

According to the museum website, Nurnberg donated "one of the more favourite displays" for visitors — the Evidence from Genealogy exhibit — which features scrolls that trace the genealogy of England's King Henry VI back to Adam and Eve.

While Nernberg hasn't lobbied the Alberta government directly to include creationism in the province's school curriculum, he said he has written opinion letters about the topic and sent them to several newspapers.

Alberta homeschool convention offers creationist textbooks

Nernberg found the near-perfect fossils concealed in a block of sandstone while working at his day job, excavating the basement of a new home in northwest Calgary.

Zelenitsky said that because the fish lived in a time shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs, they could answer some questions about evolution.

The five fish fossils were encased in a block of sandstone in the Paskapoo Formation,
a 60-million-year-old rock formation that lies under Calgary. (Meghann Dionne/CBC)

"Plants and animals were actually recovering from the extinction at that time, so any fossils, particularly if they're complete, are going to help us reconstruct what was going in the environment after a major mass extinction."

Nernberg said he has come to "accept the fact that we all have different opinions."

The fossils are en route to the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alta., to be studied by paleontologists.

"It's quite likely that these could be a new species," said Zelenitsky.

We have the five fishes, now if we just had three loaves we would really
have something to sink our teeth into

If that's the case, Nernberg said, he won't be offended if they're not named after him.

That will be the day, when paleontologists honor a creationist, or even acknowledge his existence. We've come a long way since the Scopes Monkey trial; whether it's all good or bad I will leave up to you.

Personally, I try not to take a firm position on this issue because I could quite adequately debate either side. I don't dismiss the science that makes a recent global flood unlikely; nor do I dismiss the Bible as a source of truth; and I certainly would never put God in a box and say, "this is impossible"! I believe He has some astounding surprises waiting to be revealed to us.