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Passing On: 100 years ago, the last passenger pigeon died
- spullara 12y agoIt was once the most abundant bird in North America, comprising 1/4 of all birds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon It appears that its peculiar communal mating and nesting behavior made it very easy to kill them en masse and that plus their utility lead to their demise.
- mschuster91 12y agoThe question is: is the DNA contained inside the stuffed pigeons enough (and of good enough quality) to clone the birds entirely or merge the DNA with rock pigeon DNA?
- cookrn 12y agoThe Long Now Foundation considers the Passenger Pigeon a (strong) candidate for de-extinction [1]. There is also a recent reflection on the passing of Martha from them at that link. [1] http://longnow.org/revive/what-we-do/passenger-pigeon/ http://longnow.org/revive/what-we-do/passenger-pigeon/
- oddly 12y agoEven if cloned, these birds won't come back as a whole. The instinct and habits of the original passenger pigeons are gone. It's like cloning a mammoth from a elephant, only to see it live like an elephant.
- Houshalter 12y agoInstincts and any other genetic behavior would come back. Only learned behavior would be gone, but it can be relearned.