Bringing back the Dodo

[Cinderella]

A 'De-Extinction' Company Wants to Bring Back the Dodo

Jurassic Park Is Becoming Real, Scientists Planning To Revive Famous Extinct...

[Tiffany]

The Dodo sounds more sensible than the other two. I’d love to see a live Dodo.
My Mauricion baby Dodo.

[Vlad]

I don’t understand why they are bothering, there are hundreds in the House of Lords

[LongDriver]

That heading sure fooled me. I was expecting old Compo Corbyn.

[Cinderella]

Harmless to humans, wiped out. It could happen again.

The CIA Is Funding a Mission to Reincarnate the Dodo Bird

[Maree]

Mmmm, I’m not sure, it’s a lot of money and research, wouldn’t it be better spent on saving animals that aren’t extinct but soon might be?

Perhaps the Dodo does better service as the image of what we lose if we don’t protect endangered species

Anyway, it won’t be a real Dodo, they’re gone for ever. It will just be a mutant bird with artificially created Dodo genome grafted into another species egg. And with nothing to compare it to, how will they know how successful they’ve been?

And isn’t it a bit cruel? The process is bound to involve using live birds and creating doomed and unsuccessful embryos

And if they finally do produce a living bird, it still won’t be a Dodo because it will have no parents or flock to teach it how to be a Dodo.

It will be lonely and dependent on human beings

I can’t see the point

[Maree]

@LongDriver

That heading sure fooled me. I was expecting old Compo Corbyn.

I thought Jacob Rees Moggs ……

[Cinderella]

The last paragrah of the article sums up the whole experiment.

Blockquote

While we don’t know everything about the dodo, it’s generally understood that the bird wasn’t as dumb as its reputation suggests. It remains to be seen if Colossal—and the CIA—can recreate the true mind of the dodo bird, or just the body.

[Maree]

@Cinderella

A 'De-extinction' Company Wants to Bring Back the Dodo | Scientific American

https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/sci/jurassic-park-real-scientists-revive-extinct-bird.html?fbclid=IwAR1oITlMDG2eRjPq5pZDWoNNv1L3nbVDrXYJyctYWInVDxBeOvDP-nfuPFU

Well, the thing is, how will they know? With no living Dodo to compare it to?

I don’t think you can recreate things. It would be a mutant creature that looked like a dodo but wasn’t one

[Cinderella]

Agree, maybe it should remain extinct.

[Muddy]

i think its a great project I would like to see a live Dodo , a Woolly Mammoth and a Tasmanian Tiger before I die .

[butterscotch]

Fascinating reading! Thanks for posting the article, @Cinderella

@Maree

Mmmm, I’m not sure, it’s a lot of money and research, wouldn’t it be better spent on saving animals that aren’t extinct but soon might be?

They raise this question in the article.

The ethical question with the dodo, he adds, is “whether the money is well spent or if we should spend that money trying to preserve some other living pigeons that are almost extinct.”

Their answer is that working with the dodo also gives more information about how to save other avian species from extinction.

The de-extinction of the dodo is “not a solution to the extinction crisis,” Shapiro says. “Extinction is forever.” But by pursuing the problem of dodo de-extinction, she explains, Colossal Biosciences is also developing critically needed tools for avian genomics, including for the genetic rescue of currently threatened species, such as editing genetic diversity back into a shrunken, threatened bird population. In this way, a 21st-century dodo may assist all avian conservation.

The dodo is only one of many lost birds: 161 avian species have been classified as extinct since 1500, according to a 2022 report from Bird Life International. But Colossal Biosciences is relying on the creature’s significance to inspire scientists and the general public to engage with all the problems of extinction. “We could have picked lots of different birds,” says Shapiro, raising her right arm to reveal a dodo tattoo. “I happen to really love the dodo.”

[Bruce]

Apparently they are delicious, which was why they became extinct in the first place.

[Psmith]

@butterscotch

The dodo is only one of many lost birds: 161 avian species have been classified as extinct since 1500, according to a 2022 report from

Loss of habitat probably,not much of a mystery.

[butterscotch]

Another article on the Dodo. This one has more information on the size of the investment for this so far - $225M. This article has less answers as to why this is being invested in and more criticism about why so much money is being invested in this instead of other projects with living birds.

Whether or not Colossal and its team of scientists are ultimately successful in their quest to bring back the dodo and other extinct creatures, de-extinction projects, and the technological breakthroughs they may generate, have investors excited. Colossal also announced Tuesday that it has raised an additional $150 million, bringing the total amount of funding raised since the company launched in 2021 to $225 million.

Critics, however, say the vast sums involved could be better put to use protecting the 400 or so bird species, and many other animals and plants, that are listed as endangered.

“There’s so many things that desperately need our help. And money. Why would you even bother trying to save something long gone, when there’s so many things that are desperate right now?” said Julian Hume, an avian paleontologist at London’s Natural History Museum, who studies the dodo.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/world/dodo-bring-back-from-extinction-colossal-scn/index.html

[spitfire]

No, the Dado’s day is done and dusted, talking of dust, that’s just what they gathered, walls should just be plain plastered finished, no decorative rails of any kind!!!

[Cinderella]

Guessed someone would make rejoinder with that quip.

[brokenvows]

Spend the money on cancer and other deadly diseases instead of researching ways to bring back the Dodo etc.

[Vlad]

Or bring back the extinct common sense