Peter Jackson Funds $15 Million Project to Genetically Engineer Extinct Moa Bird

Colossal Biosciences' De-extinction Efforts

• 🔬 Colossal Biosciences is a biotech company known for attempting to bring back extinct species like the direwolf and woolly mammoth.
• 🎯 Their latest project focuses on genetically engineering birds to resemble the extinct South Island giant moa.

Funding and Collaboration

• 💰 The project has received $15 million in funding from acclaimed director Peter Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh.
• 🤝 The initiative also involves the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre based in New Zealand.

The Giant Moa

• 📏 The moa once stood 12 feet tall and inhabited New Zealand until its extinction approximately 600 years ago.

Genetic Engineering Process

• 🧬 The team is collecting DNA from all nine moa species and comparing their genomes to living birds.
• 🛠️ The goal is to identify unique moa traits and use genome editing tools to implement these changes in the DNA of living relatives.

Skepticism and Personal Fulfillment

• ⚠️ Some express skepticism, noting that current technology has only demonstrated the ability to modify a few genes in existing species, not fully recreate extinct ones.
• ✨ Peter Jackson finds this de-extinction work more personally fulfilling than his filmmaking career.