The giant moa, a 3-meter bird missing six hundred years ago in New Zealand, could soon be “resurrected”-Liberation

A long neck, two powerful legs with sharp claws and a thick brown feathered dress. Furthermore, From the top of its 3.5 meters, the giant MOA is one of the largest birds to have spaded the ground on the earth. For example, For millions of years. However. Meanwhile, this herbivore unfit for theft has surveyed New Zealand, until the arrival of the first inhabitants (the Maori) on the archipelago, estimated in the 13th century. Therefore, In just a hundred years, the nine species of this immense volatile go out.

But Tuesday July 8. Similarly. For example, the American start-up colossal biosciences, which works at “Dextinction”, announced that he wanted to resuscitate the giant volatile, six hundred years after his disappearance.

This giant moa, 3-meter bird missing new is not the first time that this company has played with giant moa. Similarly, 3-meter bird missing the limits of the living. Furthermore, on the model of crazy scientists of Jurassic Park. Nevertheless, She had already been talked about in 2024. claiming to be able to recreate a mammoth – which we have not met on earth for four thousand years – by combining the fossilized genes of the prehistoric species. those of an elephant.

Then a second time. in April 2025. when she proclaimed herself for having given birth to “giant wolves” – the twins Romulus and Rémus as well as their sister Khaleesy – from a species disappeared for ten thousand years: the “sinister wolf”. In parallel, it even looks at the resurrection of the dodo and the Tasmania tiger.

This time. therefore. colossal biosciences set its sights on a giant moa, 3-meter bird missing new large New Zealand bird, whose existence continues through Maori oral traditions and thousands of bones found giant moa, 3-meter bird missing in the land of the country.

To do this. scientists wish to combine the DNA of Moa fossils with genes of eight close to surviving parents. in particular the Australian riot – a kind of ostrich. Once hatched, genetically modified birds will be released in “Research sites” Closed, specifies the Texan company. She says she wants to resuscitate the MOA within five to ten years. in partnership with the Ngāi Tahu Research Center of the University of Canterbury.

Even more unusual. this scientific research would be funded up to $ 15 million (almost 13 million euros) by the director of Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson.

“The hope that in a few years. we can see giant moa, 3-meter bird missing new a Moa again. it makes me happier than any film”, said the New Zealand producer, himself passionate about the disappeared bird, and giant moa, 3-meter bird missing who has a real collection of Moas bones-between 300 and 400.

But as with each advertisement of colossal biosciences on new resurrection works of a disappeared species, criticisms burst out. Many researchers say that it is scientifically impossible to bring prehistoric animals back to life. As explained at Guardian Nic Rawlence. expert in Moas. associate professor in ancient DNA at the University of Otago (New Zealand): “If we take the case of the giant wolf, his genome has 2.5 billion letters. It is identical to 99 % that of the gray wolf. which still represents more than a million differences, and they only made 20 modifications to 14 genes. To say that they created a giant wolf is therefore giant moa, 3-meter bird missing new a farce. They created a custom gray wolf. And it will be the same with the MOA, whatever happens. ”

Others still giant moa, 3-meter bird missing castigate the energy. investment put in these experiments. which divert attention to what is currently in the process of happening before our eyes: the extinction of millions of other species, due to the impact of man and climate change. In a world where wild animals have collapsed by 73 %, efforts could be focused on what can still be saved.