Recently, the American research company Colossal Biosciences has received 150 million US dollars. They will try to revive the iconic dodo bird, or dronten as it is called in Norwegian. – This is great fun. Trying to revive animals that humans have exterminated is fantastic news, says zoologist Petter Bøckmann, to news. The revival has previously been discussed in Dagsavisen and CNN. But not everyone is positive about reviving a centuries-old animal. – You can’t release it into the wild, until then we don’t know what the consequences will be of reintroducing the dragon to the ecosystem. I also don’t see the point in placing it in a zoo in Mauritius just so that people can see it, says paleontologist, Hanneke JM Meijer, to news. Paleontologist and professor at the University of Bergen, Hanneke, JM Meijer, believes that people do not know what the consequences may be of reintroducing the dragonfly to the ecosystem on Mauritius. Photo: Jonas Ørbeck Sire / news Extinct as a result of humans In total, the American company should have received 225 million dollars for revival projects, which also include reviving the Tasmanian tiger and the mammoth. The intelligence organization CIA and model Paris Hilton are among the contributors, and the company will use advanced DNA technology. The dove is an extinct species of pigeon that was last seen in 1662. It lived only on the island of Mauritius on the east coast of Africa, according to Meijer. – If you compare it to a normal urban pigeon, it looks very different. The drone was large and heavy, and could not fly. The wings are small compared to the rest of the body and were most likely used for signalling, she says. The bird became extinct when Europeans settled in Mauritius beyond the 16th century, and felling of forests and trees created problems for the dodo’s habitat. Paleontologist and professor at the University of Bergen, Hanneke JM Meijer, Professor Meijer shows a reconstruction of the bird. Photo: Jonas Ørbeck Sire / news In addition, the Europeans brought new species such as rats, pigs and cats to the island, which ate quail eggs. Facts about drones Drones are a group of extinct, large, flightless birds, related to today’s pigeons. The drone was approx. 1 meter high and is believed to have weighed 10-17 kg in the wild. According to sources, it had a brownish-gray plumage, and the species’ most conspicuous characteristics were the large, curved bill and the short, flightless wings. The name “dronte” most likely comes from the Dutch word for “inflated” or “swelling”. After the European colonization of Mauritius, the drones became extinct, probably through a combination of hunting, habitat destruction and competition from introduced species. Drones have subsequently been widely used as a symbol of extinction in popular culture. Source: SNL Uses DNA from pigeon The plan is to plant genes from leftover pigeon DNA and place them in a pigeon embryo. DNA traces can be found, among other things, in dry bone remains. Meijer is unsure whether it is possible to make an exact copy. – It is possible to create an animal that looks like a queen on the outside, but it will never be a real queen, says Meijer. A dove bone from fieldwork on the island of Mauritius, which is located southeast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. Photo: Dodo Research Project/Kenneth Rijsdijk. In this way, the pigeon can lay the eggs that contain queen DNA. – When it comes to how similar it can actually be, it depends on which genes they use. They will probably test several times, and choose the one that most resembles a queen, says Meijer. – Can’t take back the entire ecosystem But this is where things start to become objectionable, according to Meijer. Because where should the animal be placed? – It was not just the dragon that disappeared in 1662, but an entire ecosystem. So even if we can create a dragon hybrid, we can’t bring back the whole ecosystem, because everything disappeared. The professor believes this leads to several ethical challenges, and that the money could have been used differently. – I am quite critical of this project because I think an incredible amount of money is being spent on something that has no added value. This money could rather have been used to help other species, she says. Bøckmann, for his part, is positive about the project. He believes there is no reason why it should not survive in today’s ecosystem. – The only challenge here is to give a sufficient slap on the wrist to those who released rats and cats in Mauritius, says the zoologist. Zoologist Petter Bøckmann does not see it as problematic to reintroduce extinct species. Photo: Karsten Sund – Are you exclusively positive about the project? – Yes! I don’t see it as problematic to revive extinct animals, he says. Bøckmann would rather strike a blow for vultures in the Oslo Fjord and mammoths in Siberia. – One thing is cranes in Mauritius – imagine if we could have vultures in the Oslo Fjord. That would be great fun! Huge areas in Siberia have already been set aside ready to receive the mammoth the day we have to think of cloning it.
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Critical to the revival of the 400-year-old Dodo bird – news Vestland
