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De-Extinction Is Now a Thing—Starting With Passenger Pigeons

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday October 24 2018, @03:21PM   
from the buy-stock-in-car-washes dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Singularity Hub:

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.

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Original Submission

• Re:So how many passenger pidgeons will they make? (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday October 25 2018, @02:19PM

  by khallow (3766) on Thursday October 25 2018, @02:19PM (#753657) Journal

  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 .

  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.

  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.

  And one can't create/breed thousands or tens of thousands of small birds because?

  Parent