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9Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Brad Witt, Former President Trump, Henry Heimuller, Joe Biden, Pat Robertson, Ted Cruz, Joe Biden’s dogs, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone. See Bill’s Standard Disclaimer
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The Dodo bird may be brought back from extinction with a hybrid replica.
The Dodo Bird, a species gone extinct because of humans
The Dodo bird has been extinct since 1681. The flightless bird lived on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The arrival of sailors brought with them invasive species like rats and the sailors hunted the birds, which were easy prey because they were not afraid of humans. The Dodo was pushed into extinction in a few decades. Founded on a skeleton from the Durban Natural Science Museum in South Africa, the dodo once stood around 2.3 feet tall and weighed about 33 to 39 pounds. Millions years ago when sea levels were low the Dodo lived on these nearby islands and island hopped from island to island, and not needing to fly, so over time they lost that ability. Food was so plentiful, they ate and ate and grew bigger and bigger over time. When the sea levels rose they became stranded on Mauritius and with no known predators and plentiful food the Dodo had it made until….man came along. Scientists want to bring the Dodo back by using new advances in ancient DNA sequencing, gene editing technology and synthetic biology. Scientists hope these new advances could bring back other extinct birds and help with the conversation of many failing bird species. Right now earth is in the middle of an extinction crisis, and scientists hope if they can bring some creatures back, they hope it will get people into seeing and realizing how many creatures are going extinct and change their ways of seeing the earth, and other living beings which they share the earth with, and prevent other extinction events. Other scientists are working on an equally motivated projects to bring back the woolly mammoth and the Tasmanian tiger. The Wooly Rino’s and Wooly Mammoths in order to bring back the eco system in the Arctic tundra, which depended on these animals to sustain it in a healthy manner. Scientists have already accomplished a crucial first step in the project, completely sequencing the dodo’s genome from ancient DNA based on genetic material removed from dodo remains. Then they have to compare the genetic data with the dodo’s closest bird lineages in the pigeon family, the living Nicobar pigeon, and the extinct Rodrigues solitaire, a giant flightless pigeon that once lived on an island close to Mauritius. The process would allow them to narrow down which mutations in the genome which makes the Dodo itself. All of this will not be an easy task, but programming cells from a living relative of the dodo with the lost bird’s DNA , scientists will try and adapt an existing technique used involving primordial germ cells, the embryonic precursors of sperm and eggs, that has already been used to create a chicken fathered by a duck. This is done by removing primordial gems cells from an egg, cultivating them in the lab and editing the cells with the desired genetic traits before injecting them back to an egg at the same developmental stage. Even if scientists succeeded in making a Dodo they will not be making an original Dodo but would develop a crossbreed Dodo. Right now science has not advanced enough to make a completely original species. Maybe in the way off future they will be able to accomplish this task. Scientists hope that in alternating or recreating species genes, they can interject these genes into other species and it will help them adapt to smaller habitat, and climate change. Or even protect them from diseases by taking genes from a bird that is not effected by a certain disease and inject it into the species that is under the stress of disease. Colossal bioscience is the front runner on working on this project, raising huge amounts of money to the tune of $225 million in 2021,Critics, however, say the vast sums involved could be better put to use protecting the 400 or so bird species, and many other animals and plants, that are listed as endangered. I can see both sides of this comment, but so far humans are not doing what is necessary to save the planet. Until humans change drastically all species are at risk even humans. Whether you agree in remaking hybrid extinct species or not, the advance of this science is moving along slowly because of its complexly and will be decades away from actual success.
Tammy
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