Another Colossal breakthrough

Call up Ben Stiller, because history could soon be coming back to life.

Texas-based startup Colossal Biosciences yesterday announced a key breakthrough in its quest to create replicas of the extinct dodo bird and reintroduce them to their native habitat.

The way of the dodo

To create a dodo, which went extinct due to human activity in the late 17th century, Colossal plans to modify the bird’s closest living relative—the brightly colored Nicobar pigeon—then slowly “re-wild” thousands of animals on the East African island of Mauritius.

• Colossal’s latest breakthrough involves growing pigeon primordial germ cells—which are precursor cells to sperm and eggs—for the first time, marking a “pivotal step” in the resurrection process.
• Colossal has also developed gene-edited chickens to act as surrogates for the dodos.
• These chickens will be injected with the newly grown pigeon primordial germ cells, which will eventually allow them to breed dodos following a series of further genetic edits.

What’s the point? Colossal says its attempts to resurrect extinct animals could help improve conservation efforts for living animals, and also help inspire people about science. But critics and anyone who's seen Jurassic Park caution that it could also have some pretty gnarly implications.

👀 Looking ahead…“Rough ballpark, we think it’s still five to seven years out, but it’s not 20 years out,” CEO Ben Lamm said about the dodo’s return. Colossal’s efforts will be bolstered by a new $120 million funding round, announced yesterday, from investors including filmmaker Peter Jackson.