US biotech firm advances plan to bring dodo back to Mauritius

Colossal Biosciences, a US biotech company, announced progress on Wednesday toward resurrecting the extinct dodo bird and returning it to its native Mauritius, where humans drove it to extinction in the 17th century. The Dallas-based company said it used a new AI platform called GenoMorph to identify roughly 2,300 genetic changes likely responsible for the dodo's distinctive beak and facial structure. Colossal plans to gene-edit these traits into Nicobar pigeon cells, the dodo's closest living relative, and has expanded its pigeon colony in Texas to 36 birds. Colossal's genome analysis of the dodo is now 95% complete, though no timeframe for hatching was announced. The company has four other de-extinction projects, including the woolly mammoth and dire wolf, and is working with Mauritian officials on habitat restoration and predator removal for potential future release sites.