The Moa is Next Target for De-extinction

I must have missed this particular news but a species of wolf, Aenocyon dirus that died out some 12,500 years ago lives again as the “world’s first successfully de-extincted animal”, according to Dallas, US-based Colossal Biosciences. 

Their scientists have created three dire wolf pups by using ancient DNA, cloning and gene-editing technology to alter the genes of a gray wolf, the prehistoric dire wolf’s closest living relative, the company had announced on April 07, 2025. The result is essentially a hybrid species similar in appearance to its extinct forerunner. 

Similar efforts to bring back the woolly mammoth, the dodo and the thylacine, better known as the Tasmanian tiger, are also underway.

And now, the biotech company say they have a plan to bring back a species of flightless bird that once inhabited New Zealand and which disappeared around 600 years ago, shortly after human settlers first arrived on the country’s two main islands. 

The said bird is the South Island giant moa – a powerful, long-necked species that stood 10 feet (3 meters) tall and may have kicked in self-defense – adds to a fast-expanding list of animals they want to resurrect by genetically modifying their closest living relatives. 

To restore the moa, Colossal Biosciences announced three Tuesdays ago they would collaborate with New Zealand’s Ngāi Tahu Research Centre, an institution based at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, that was founded to support the Ngāi Tahu, the main Māori tribe of the southern region of New Zealand. 

The project would initially involve recovering and analyzing ancient DNA from nine moa species to understand how the giant moa (Dinornis robustus) differed from living and extinct relatives in order to decode its unique genetic makeup, according to a company statement. 

As part of the project, Colossal said they would undertake ecological restoration projects in New Zealand, focusing on rehabilitating potential moa habitats while supporting existing native species. 

Many scientists argue that while Colossal’s researchers are advancing the field of genetic engineering, it’s not truly possible to resurrect an extinct animal – any attempt could only create a genetically modified, hybrid species. Suggesting that extinction can be reversed through technology risks undermining the urgency of conserving existing species and ecosystems, critics say. 

Ben Lamm, CEO and co-founder of Colossal Biosciences, told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria last month that the biotechnology Colossal develops will be used to help rescue animals on the brink of extinction as well as those that have already disappeared. For example, he said, Colossal have produced two litters of cloned red wolves (Canis rufus), the most critically endangered wolf species, using a new, less invasive approach to cloning developed during the dire wolf research. 

“I think that we could have a scalable de-extinction system that isn’t going to replace conservation, but it is kind of that additional backup that I think we need, especially in these dire cases”, Lamm said.