The dodo is a sad story of how quickly a species can be gone due to human irresponsibility. Discovered at the turn of the 17th century, the flightless bird quickly went extinct after only 100 years as it fell victim to hunting by humans and became prey to dogs, cats, and pigs brought by the explorers. But now, there is hope in the de-extinction of the species, as scientists have finally fully sequenced the species' genome. However, it is not yet published, but one of the people behind the sequencing, Beth Shapiro, says it will be soon.
Despite the fully sequenced genome, we might still not see a living dodo soon because birds have intricate reproductive pathways. Editing cells and turning them into actual mammals is easier, Shapiro remarks. In other words, we need a new approach for birds.
A potential method could be editing a Nicobar pigeon's DNA. As the dodo and this pigeon are closely related genetically, scientists could edit the pigeon's DNA to include the dodo DNA. But it will probably look a bit different compared to the extinct dodo.
(Image Credit: 123rf via NZ Herald)