Moa’s rebirth needs to be thought through, says scientist

If Moa were brought back from extinction they might have to be protected on Jurassic Park-style islands, says a leading New Zealand zoologist.

University of Otago Department of Zoology professor Phil Seddon said scientists could bring the moa back, but the big question was whether they should. Seddon raised concerns about the idea at a seminar in Christchurch last week.

He said Russian and South Korean scientists were already trying to recreate a woolly mammoth and an extinct Pyrenean ibex has been successfully bred.

It died after seven minutes due to mutated lungs but the birth was chalked up as a success.

Seddon said extinct species could be recreated by one of three methods: cloning, altering existing species or patching together genetic material from fossils and preserved cells. It would take time, but it would eventually work.

However, there were issues beyond the challenge of creating one member of a long-lost species, he said.

Assuming scientists could create one moa from fossilised DNA, how would they raise it and what animal behavioural example would it follow?

Could they then create another of the opposite gender, and get them to mate?

If this could be done, could they create enough unique mating pairs to create a stable population?

If they did, where would the moa live and how would we protect them – a kind of Jurassic Park for flightless birds, or would one or two live in a zoo, constantly replaced by the latest clone?

Seddon said for many species, the environments they lived in are now gone or limited. They might be brought back to life, only to die out all over again.

Should we be saving the species we have already endangered, like the kiwi, before we spend valuable time and money trying to bring back the ones we wiped out?

Seddon said bringing animals back from extinction had to be debated as it was a scientific reality.