Novak is among a small group of "de-extinction" engineers, a relatively fringe group of scientists that hope to use genetic engineering to protect or revive iconic animal species ravaged by human activity.
To some, de-extinction is an ecological-sized guilt trip, a species-wide Pet Cemetery horror story ripe for disaster. Yes, biodiversity is important; but who is to say that an extinct species can adapt and survive in an ecological system that's moved on since its passing? Or perhaps more importantly, what if newly-revived animals—a true "invasive species" for Earth—cause more damage than good to our fragile ecosystem?
"Why go through the trouble" is something his team gets asked, said Novak. For passenger pigeons, the answer is simple: recently, almost a
millennium[century] after their man-driven extinction, we finally understand the critical role they played in shaping the eastern North American ecosphere.
The passenger pigeon isn't extinct -- it's merely resting.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @04:41PM (3 children)
To successfully introduce this pigeon back into it's historical habitat, they would need 20 Costco warehouses full of them.
IIRC, even though hunting was the main cause of the plummeting passenger pigeon population, deforestation was also a significant contributing factor in it's decline and inability to maintain the statu-quo .
Also, unlike animals that were successfully brought back from the brink of extinction such as the bison (buffalo?), whooping cranes, or burrowing owls, wild passenger pigeon procreation populations need to be in the thousands or tens of thousands to maintain the size of the flock due to natural reducing factors such as predation.
(Score: 3, Informative) by HiThere on Wednesday October 24 2018, @04:55PM
Well, predation, except for by house cats, has probably decreased significantly, but the supporting ecosystem is gone, and the passenger pigeon liked to travel in HUGE flocks, so they were quite destructive, and necessarily migratory. Even in the 1800's land owners would try to protect themselves from them, and currently there's a dearth of unowned land.
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(Score: 2) by insanumingenium on Wednesday October 24 2018, @11:05PM
Their anti predation strategy was predator saturation.
The other sad part is that they wouldn't mate in captivity, they are believed to have only mated in the context of their mega flocks.
This is a bird that isn't coming back, which is sad because it was comically easy to slaughter an essentially unlimited number of them, was a wonderful way to feed the poor.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday October 25 2018, @02:19PM
There's been significant reforestation since the extinction of the passenger pigeon. There are, for example, large tracts of regrown forest all along passenger pigeon migration routes.
And one can't create/breed thousands or tens of thousands of small birds because?