De-Extinction Advances: The Colossal Effort to Resurrect the Dodo

The idea of bringing extinct animals back to life sounds like pure science fiction. However, recent breakthroughs in genetic engineering are turning this concept into a reality. Scientists are currently leading a massive, multi-million dollar initiative to resurrect the dodo, an iconic bird lost to history over three centuries ago.

The Pioneers of Avian De-Extinction

The driving force behind this ambitious project is Colossal Biosciences. Founded in 2021 by tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm and renowned Harvard geneticist George Church, the biotechnology company has made massive waves in the scientific community. In January 2023, Colossal announced the dodo as their third official de-extinction target, joining the woolly mammoth and the Tasmanian tiger.

To fund this specific endeavor, Colossal Biosciences raised $150 million in Series B funding in early 2023. This massive financial injection brought their total funding to over $225 million, backed by major investors like the United States Innovative Technology Fund. This money allows them to hire specialized research teams and build state-of-the-art genetic laboratories.

Unlocking the Dodo Genome

You cannot bring an animal back without its genetic blueprint. Dr. Beth Shapiro, a leading paleogeneticist and the lead scientist for the dodo project at Colossal, achieved a massive milestone in March 2022. Her team successfully sequenced the entire dodo genome.

Finding usable DNA from a bird that went extinct in the 17th century is incredibly difficult. DNA degrades over time, especially in hot, humid environments like the dodo’s native habitat. However, Dr. Shapiro and her team managed to extract high-quality genetic material from a remarkably well-preserved dodo specimen housed in a museum collection in Copenhagen, Denmark. This sequencing provides the exact biological instructions needed to understand what made a dodo unique.

The Blueprint: Enter the Nicobar Pigeon

Because the dodo is completely extinct, there are no living cells available to create a traditional clone. Scientists cannot simply grow a dodo in a lab. Instead, they have to work backward using a living relative.

Genetic analysis revealed that the closest living relative to the dodo is the Nicobar pigeon. This vibrant, ground-dwelling bird lives in the coastal regions of Southeast Asia.

To resurrect the dodo, geneticists are doing the following:

• Comparing the fully sequenced dodo genome to the Nicobar pigeon genome.
• Identifying the exact DNA mutations that gave the dodo its defining traits, such as its large beak, heavy body, and inability to fly.
• Using advanced gene-editing tools like CRISPR to edit the Nicobar pigeon cells to match those distinct dodo traits.

The Complexities of Bird Genetics

Editing the DNA of a bird presents entirely different challenges than editing the DNA of a mammal. When scientists cloned Dolly the sheep, they used a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer. This involves taking an egg cell, removing its nucleus, and replacing it with the nucleus of a donor cell.

You cannot do this with birds. A bird egg is essentially one giant cell, and the yolk makes it impossible to perform standard nuclear transfer.

To bypass this hurdle, the Colossal team is focusing on primordial germ cells (PGCs). These are the embryonic cells that eventually turn into sperm or eggs. The scientists plan to extract PGCs from a bird egg, edit the DNA in a laboratory to include the dodo traits, and then inject those engineered cells into a surrogate egg. The surrogate host will likely be a standard chicken. When that chicken hatches and eventually breeds, it will pass on the engineered dodo genetics to its offspring.

Rewilding Mauritius

The ultimate goal of this project is not to create a lone laboratory specimen or a zoo attraction. Colossal Biosciences intends to return the bird to its natural habitat.

The dodo was native to only one place on Earth: the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. It went extinct around 1662, primarily driven to extinction by human hunting and the introduction of invasive species like rats, macaques, and pigs that ate the dodo’s eggs.

To ensure the new dodo can survive, Colossal partnered directly with the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation. Together, they are working on extensive habitat restoration plans. This involves clearing invasive plant species, managing non-native predators, and restoring the native forests that the dodo once called home.

The Broader Impact on Conservation

Many critics ask why companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to bring back dead species when thousands of living species are currently facing extinction. The scientists at Colossal argue that the technology developed for the dodo project will directly benefit modern conservation efforts.

The techniques created to culture and edit avian primordial germ cells are revolutionary. These exact same genetic tools can be used to inject genetic diversity back into heavily endangered bird populations today. For example, conservationists in Mauritius are currently fighting to save the pink pigeon, a species that suffers from severe inbreeding due to a low population. The de-extinction technology being perfected right now could eventually be used to save the pink pigeon from suffering the exact same fate as the dodo.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did the true dodo go extinct? The last widely accepted sighting of a live dodo occurred around 1662. The species was driven to extinction within a century of its discovery by Dutch sailors, largely due to hunting and invasive predators destroying their ground-level nests.

Will the resurrected bird be an exact clone of the original dodo? No. Because scientists are editing the genome of a Nicobar pigeon to express dodo traits, the resulting animal is scientifically known as a “functional proxy.” It will look and behave like a dodo, filling the exact same ecological role in the wild, but it will technically be an engineered hybrid.

Who is funding the dodo de-extinction project? The project is entirely funded by Colossal Biosciences, a private biotechnology company. They raised $150 million in Series B funding in early 2023 specifically to launch the avian genomics division responsible for the dodo project.

Why use a chicken as a surrogate? Chickens are used because their reproductive biology is incredibly well understood by the agricultural and scientific communities. They are reliable breeders, making them the most stable surrogate hosts to carry the edited primordial germ cells needed to hatch the first generation of dodo proxies.