The Second Cooing: Raising Passenger Pigeons From the Dead

Groundbreaking research in genetics draws both fascination and alarm. A California researcher is collecting DNA of passenger pigeons, extinct since 1914, from museums of natural history. “The Tasmanian devil, the wooly rhinoceros, the mammoth, the dodo and the gastric-breeding frog are all on the list of candidates for revival,” reports Philip Bethge, who explains how the animal’s flocking behavior made them easy prey for humans. The scientists plan to “match the DNA sequence of the passenger pigeon with that of its close relative, the band-tailed pigeon” and “stamp out the divergent sequences from the band-tailed pigeon genome and replace them with synthesized passenger pigeon genetic material.” Critics suggest that funds could be better spent on protecting the many modern-day endangered species. Others suggest the research could minimize concerns about extinction. Human intervention killed off the passenger pigeons, and now many worry about the unintended consequences of human intervention in bringing them back. – YaleGlobal