Colossal Biosciences has embarked on a bold initiative to bring back the extinct giant moa bird. The Texas-based genetic engineering company, founded by Ben Lamm and Harvard geneticist George Church, announced its plans to resurrect the South Island Giant Moa, Dinornis robustus. In collaboration with the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre in New Zealand, the project aims to restore ecological balance and cultural heritage.
The giant moa, a flightless bird that stood up to 3.7 meters tall and weighed about 280 kilograms, roamed New Zealand until it was driven to extinction around the 15th century by the Māori people. Colossal Biosciences asserted that through advances in genetic engineering, particularly techniques involving DNA extracted from fossils, it could achieve the restoration of these historical creatures within five to ten years.
This de-extinction endeavor is not without precedent for Colossal. In April, the company announced the birth of three puppies with traits of the woolly mammoth. However, the results were later criticized as genetically modified gray wolves rather than actual mammoths, according to Sopitas.
Assisted by a news-analysis system.
For the moa project, Colossal plans to reconstruct the genome of Dinornis robustus by analyzing ancient DNA from nine species of moa. The company's experts will employ primordial germ cells, essential for transmitting genetic information, to genetically modify the closest living species, emus and tinamous, as proposed in Kompas. Despite their efforts, scientists, including Vincent Lynch, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University at Buffalo, cautioned that these genetically modified creatures could not truly replicate extinct species. "Given enough time, it might be possible to genetically create an emu with characteristics like a moa, but that is not a moa; it is just an emu with transplanted genes," said Lynch, according to Maeil Business.
Critics from the scientific community have pointed to ethical concerns and the feasibility of such projects. "There is no genetic engineering pathway currently that can truly bring back a species that has gone extinct," noted Philip Seddon, a professor of zoology at the University of Otago, as reported in Kompas. Stuart Pimm, a professor of conservation ecology at Duke University, emphasized in Maeil Business, "Creating animals that merely resemble extinct species in appearance is like a Frankenstein story," expressing doubts about their reintroduction into the natural world.
In the face of skepticism, Trevor Worthy, a vertebrate paleontologist from Flinders University, acknowledged the potential for knowledge advancements during the de-extinction process. "There will be great advances in knowledge throughout the process toward de-extinction," remarked Worthy, quoted by Kompas.
Colossal Biosciences has received backing from New Zealand-born director Peter Jackson, whose support includes a donation of approximately $15 million. Jackson, a prominent collector of moa bones, expressed his enthusiasm, according to Maeil Business: "The hope that we will see moas again in a few years gives me more joy and satisfaction than any movie."