Biology

Dodo next in line for de-extinction by scientists reviving the mammoth

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A model of a dodo, the creature that perhaps most clearly represents human-induced extinction
Mike Hanlon/New Atlas
A model of a dodo, the creature that perhaps most clearly represents human-induced extinction
Mike Hanlon/New Atlas
Beth Shapiro, lead paleogeneticist on Colossal's dodo de-extinction project, and Ben Lamm, CEO of Colossal, with the newest target
Colossal Biosciences

Not content with aiming to resurrect the woolly mammoth and the thylacine, Colossal Biosciences has now announced the third animal on its de-extinction list – the dodo. This comes on the heels of a substantial new round of funding, with the company also providing an update on its scientific progress so far.

The dodo was first discovered in 1598 by Dutch explorers on the then-uninhabited island of Mauritius – and less than a century later it was extinct. The deadly combination of human hunting and introduced animals like dogs and cats, paired with the dodo’s lack of fear and flight, made them one of the earliest and clearest case studies in human-driven extinction.

Being a symbol of obsolescence makes the dodo an obvious choice for Colossal’s lofty goals of de-extinction – even from a potentially cynical point of view that it would catch the attention of the public and investors alike. And sure enough, the company has now announced that it’s received US$150 million in Series B funding, bringing the total raised to $225 million since its inception in 2021.

Less cynically though, the dodo also makes sense as a target because it should do for birds what the mammoth is doing for mammals and the thylacine for marsupials. This new funding will be used to launch Colossal’s new Avian Genomics Group, which will not only focus on de-extincting the dodo, but applying the lessons learnt and technologies developed to aid conservation efforts for endangered birds.

Beth Shapiro, lead paleogeneticist on Colossal's dodo de-extinction project, and Ben Lamm, CEO of Colossal, with the newest target
Colossal Biosciences

“The dodo is a prime example of a species that became extinct because we – people – made it impossible for them to survive in their native habitat,” said Beth Shapiro, lead paleogeneticist on the project. “Having focused on genetic advancements in ancient DNA for my entire career and as the first to fully sequence the dodo’s genome, I am thrilled to collaborate with Colossal and the people of Mauritius on the de-extinction and eventual re-wilding of the dodo. I particularly look forward to furthering genetic rescue tools focused on birds and avian conservation.”

Colossal has also provided updates on how its mammoth and thylacine teams are tracking. The mammoth team, which involves over 40 scientists and three labs, has sequenced reference genomes for the African and Asian elephants, and derived pluripotent stem cells from both. They’ve refined the list of mammoth-specific genes which will be targets for editing, and developed techniques that can generate more than 20 edits in these genes. Finally, they’ve built a new embryology lab that can be used for endangered species.

Meanwhile, the thylacine team’s 30 scientists have derived pluripotent stem cells from dunnarts, the extinct marsupial’s closest living relative, and developed pipelines for how to edit dunnart early cell lines. Most impressively, the team has prototyped an artificial womb designed to carry marsupial young to term.

Whether or not we’ll ever see dodos, mammoths or thylacines walking the Earth again remains to be seen, but it’s an intriguing thought that seems to be gaining more traction.

Source: Colossal via Businesswire

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15 comments
David Wilson
I think it is obscene, this is a pandoras box, these Frankenstein types need stopping before what they start gets out of control, like it obviously will. On a continually more overcrowded planet we should view the extinction of species as a natural evolutionary procedure, nature's way of trying to retain balance, there can be no room, place or need for these creatures without displacing some other species including humans. The it is only science answer and making these creatures for observation is cruel as the story Frankenstein demonstrated, and the likely hood that the greedyrich will use their vast wealth because they are daft enough to want dinosaurs as pets, well we know how that will work out.
TonyB
I would not view man's folly in driving some species to extinction as a "natural evolutionary procedure". The scientific processes involved in this quest, which has not yet been proven, could aid in other exciting breakthroughs in gene therapy. Man will not stop breaking barriers, nor should he.
P51d007
When they start screwing around with this, it will not end well.
I know they have/are extracting blood and what not from things frozen in Amber.
What if they activate, or release some pathegon that we are not immune from, or causes some release of something
that over millions of years our immune system has no way of coping with?
Karmudjun
Michael - great article.
The Dodo is one of those birds that fascinated me when I was growing up. I guess in Florida the story of how the Dodo went extinct is banned since it was a massive fail for white men - sailors! They went after the easy meat and decimated the population. If the animal can be brought back and survive with a genetically diverse species, that would be great for those of us who missed out on seeing a slow, clumsy, fearless bird. Sort of like our cultivated turkeys....
TechGazer
The loss of the dodo probably left an empty ecological niche, causing further problems. There might be some plants going extinct because they depended on the dodo's activities. The arctic region lost a lot of biodiversity due to the loss of the mammoths, who basically cultivated the soil while feeding and just walking around. The question is: will the overall effects of restoring a species be beneficial? Restoring Passenger Pigeons would probably be a disaster for farmers. Dodos, not sure.

A further step would be to engineer species to accomplish certain ecological tasks. Modify thylacines--or maybe kangaroos--to eat invasive toads? Engineer dodos to keep lawns trimmed and dandelion-free? Lots of possibilities. Good or bad? Time will tell.
Joy Parr
Mr Wilson,
That's a barely coherent, hysterical rant. Please calm down. You make wild assertions without evidence. You say,
"[...]these Frankenstein types need stopping before what they start gets out of control, like it obviously will."
Oh? Based on what? Do you have a crystal ball? No. Do you offer any evidence? No. Let's move on.
You say,
"[...]there can be no room, place or need for these creatures without displacing some other species including humans."
Oh? Again, based on what? Another assertion without evidence.
You say,
"[...]making these creatures for observation is cruel as the story Frankenstein demonstrated,[...]".
The story of Frankenstein was _fiction_, Mr Wilson, please try to get a grip on reality.
And lastly, you expect us to believe that you, and you alone, can see the future, confidently ending your non-argument with,
"[...]they are daft enough to want dinosaurs as pets, well we know how that will work out."
Nonsense. We don't know any such thing.
What does everyone else think, please?
1stClassOPP
Perhaps many of the “mythological creatures are not myths at all. Maybe someone long ago also experimented with genetics and created these creatures. Careful!
Christian Lassen
Pretty darn cool.

As humans dominate more and more of the surface of the earth, --which is okay, no self-hatred for humanity here-- we'll hang onto the species we like or we care about. We can't preserve all animals, but as we learn about animals that we like for various reasons we'll keep them around. If we can bring these animals back from extinction, fix a previous wrong that other humans made before knowing better, very cool
Wombat56
Karmudjun, they probably didn't go extinct because people ate them, because reportedly they tasted terrible. However they were a ground nesting species and it's thought introduced feral rats wiped out their eggs and any young chicks.
Brian M
Clearly someone hasn't seen Jurassic Park all the way through!

How useful it is to bring back extinct species is debatable, and it's not really bringing back the species but more of gene editing to get something similar.
The is always the risk of unintended consequences including animal suffering.

Maybe we should concentrate on protecting what we still have?