this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2025
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The company plans to extract DNA from moa bones and use gene editing to modify "living birds to resemble the extinct South Island giant moa".

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Hey uhh.. I don't know if these guys have ever seen jurrasic park, but maybe we should start a go fund me to get them movie tickets before we have the moa-b roaming the streets.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago

I'm sure it's fine. If the moa population gets out of hand, we'll just bring back Haast's eagle.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The Science Media Centre got comment from bunch of scientists on this and it's a really interesting read. There's a couple of positive takes I there, but mostly skeptical it will actually happen and if they do is it really a moa.

The point that resonated with me most is the risk that these big claims are picked up and used to undermine actual conversation work and protecting endangered species as "we can always just resurrect them later"

https://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2025/07/09/moa-de-extinction-plans-announced-expert-reaction/

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago

@Xcf456 @BaconWrappedEnigma Sounds like the idea behind Jurassic Park

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago

Finally, we may solve the age old question "The Moa or the egg?"

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

This is a bit of a ship of theseus discussion, I think. Will these be moa, or something like an Emu or Ostrich that has been genetically edited to resemble a Moa?

What is the cutoff point where you can consider something to be one species or another?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago

What is the cutoff point where you can consider something to be one species or another?

Not an easy question to answer.