The current plans to de-extinct and re-wild the dodo calls into question the motivation. And there are ethical issues as well. I always think that if humankind wants to de-extinct species such as the dodo or the Tasmanian tiger or indeed the woolly mammoth, it is because we are guilty. The guilt of hunting these species to extinction. Although the reasons for the extinction of the woolly mammoth is still a question of debate. Humankind’s hunting of the species must have contributed however.
The dodo was last seen alive in the 1660s, as the Infographic states, on an island off Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. There must have been an occasion when the very last dodo on the planet existed and somebody shot it to death. It is hard to imagine a more careless act by a human. The same happened to the white tiger in the wild. One cub was left: Rohan after the maharaja shot his mother. He is the sole foundation white tiger on the planet which is why they are all horribly inbred.
This flightless bird has gone down in history with the phrase “as dead as a dodo”. It is a symbol of the extinction of wild species. And perhaps for this reason, this iconic species, is perhaps now the primary target to bring an extinct animal back from the dead. If they can do it with the dodo, they can do it with other species.
And the task is currently down to Prof Beth Shapiro of the University of California, Santa Cruz. She appears to be committed to it. Last year Shapiro and her team sequenced the dodo’s genome. They managed to do this by using museum specimens.
She has partnered with Colossal Biosciences. The target is to edit the Nicobar pigeon’s genes to more closely resemble the dodo’s genome according to a report in The Times newspaper today.
The modified cells would then be used to create an embryo which would be implanted in a Nicobar pigeon. The pigeon would then lay an egg containing a dodo! Although they expect something LIKE a dodo to be born. It might be a hybrid of a pigeon and a dodo which is flightless and which mimics the key features of the dodo.
Colossal Biosciences has raised £122 million to fund the research. They are also involved in trying to combine woolly mammoth DNA with the DNA of living elephants. The target? To create a mammoth suited to Arctic conditions. Certainly, if they achieve that, there’s plenty of space in Siberia for them to roam without interference from humankind.
The process will be similar to the one used to create Dolly the cloned sheep which was very much in the news several years ago. It raised ethical questions too.
The project is a great challenge as highlighted by Prof Ewan Berney, who is not involved with the project but who said: “[It would be] very, very challenging. I’ve no idea whether the mechanics of this will work as they claim, but the question is not just can you do this but should you do it.”
Proactive measures are easier than de-extinction efforts. Despite that obvious knowledge humankind struggles to put it into action.
