U.S. company announces progress toward resurrecting the extinct dodo

A U.S. biotech company says it is making progress toward its goal of resurrecting the dodo, the famous flightless bird with a large hooked beak, and returning it to its native Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, where humans drove it to extinction in the 17th century.

Dallas-based Colossal Biosciences said on Wednesday it has used a newly developed artificial intelligence platform to identify genetic changes that may be responsible for the dodo’s distinctive craniofacial traits as its scientists pursue gene-editing targets to bring back this lost species.

Colossal is planning to perform gene-editing to bring dodo traits into the cells of its closest living relative, the Nicobar pigeon. Native to some Southeast Asian islands, the Nicobar pigeon is known for its shimmering green and copper feathers and, unlike the dodo, can fly.