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The company plans to extract DNA from moa bones and use gene editing to modify "living birds to resemble the extinct South Island giant moa".
This is a bit of a ship of theseus discussion, I think. Will these be moa, or something like an Emu or Ostrich that has been genetically edited to resemble a Moa?
What is the cutoff point where you can consider something to be one species or another?
What is the cutoff point where you can consider something to be one species or another?
The Science Media Centre got comment from bunch of scientists on this and it's a really interesting read. There's a couple of positive takes I there, but mostly skeptical it will actually happen and if they do is it really a moa.
The point that resonated with me most is the risk that these big claims are picked up and used to undermine actual conversation work and protecting endangered species as "we can always just resurrect them later"
https://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2025/07/09/moa-de-extinction-plans-announced-expert-reaction/
Hey uhh.. I don't know if these guys have ever seen jurrasic park, but maybe we should start a go fund me to get them movie tickets before we have the moa-b roaming the streets.
I'm sure it's fine. If the moa population gets out of hand, we'll just bring back Haast's eagle.
Finally, we may solve the age old question "The Moa or the egg?"