Using a new DNA extraction technique, scientists have been able to extract DNA from the eggshell of the extinct Elephant Bird, a truly gigantic bird in Madagascar (largest bird that ever lived) that became extinct about 400 years ago.   The eggs alone were over a foot long, with a volume equivalent of about 160 chicken eggs.

Extinct Elephant Bird of Madagascar Could Live Again

So…if indeed they COULD ever resurrect an Elephant Bird from ancient DNA…should they?  What are the implications of bringing an extinct species back to life?  What are the limits, i.e., when would it be OK to resurrect an extinct species, and when should it be avoided?

My take…the Elephant Bird, like many other species, didn’t go extinct due to natural changes in habitat or any force of natural selection.  It went extinct directly because of the impact of human beings.  In cases such as this, I think we absolutely SHOULD bring a species back, if the technology allows.  Ivory-billed Woodpeckers again roaming the Southeast (well, depending on whether you believe some still exist)? Passenger Pigeons in massive flocks in Eastern U.S. forests?   Why not?

I can think of at least one negative (other than the need for suitable habitat).  Bringing a species back to life obviously doesn’t ensure long-term survival.  Perhaps technology will someday allow for the “revival” of extinct species.  But can an organism that has been absent from the landscape for decades/centuries survive?  How much of an organism’s survival depends on instinct, and how much depends upon learned behavior?  Without truly wild companions, can a genetically-revived organism re-learn survival strategies the species used decades ago?

I’d imagine that this kind of genetics-based revival would work in some cases, and fail in others.  To me, the more complex the organism, the more difficult a time you’d have reestablishing it in the wild (assuming more behaviors are “learned” in advanced organisms????).  Just my thoughts.