Can We Revive Extinct Species Like the Dodo?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 1 December 2017
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dodos are dead, but are they gone forever? Reviving extinct species is a trope of science fiction, but real-life scientists are working on every stage of the problem today. Meeting scientists focused on uncovering ancient animal genomes, or reviving individual cells to conserve species still around, Marnie Chesterton seeks out whether new technologies might, just possibly, bring back the iconic dodo. But what would it take to bring back that most iconic of extinct species? Following listener Rachel’s question, CrowdScience gets to grips with the dodo’s past, and finds out what’s left of this iconic bird, meeting the scientists inadvertently piecing it back together.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producer: Rory Galloway
Picture: An accurate reconstruction of nesting Dodos Photo Credit: Dr Julian Hume
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.4 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. Welcome to the Crowd Science Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Marnie Chesterton and for the uninitiated think of this |
| 0:44.5 | podcast as your personalized service, finding answers to all your science |
| 0:49.5 | conundrums. You might be troubled by something massive like is there an edge to an infinite |
| 0:54.8 | universe or maybe you just want to know why you keep losing your car keys. |
| 0:58.9 | Well either way you can email us crowd Crowd Science at BBC.co.uk, and we might just take on your question. |
| 1:08.4 | Tackling today's query has led me to this unusual noise. |
| 1:14.0 | This is the booming call of the Victoria crowned pigeon, |
| 1:20.0 | the largest species of pigeon alive on earth today. |
| 1:23.0 | She is the size of a peacock and less friendly than I'd hoped. |
| 1:27.0 | Come and say hello. |
| 1:30.0 | Oh! |
| 1:31.0 | Oh! Oh, she's strong. She's just kind of beaten me up with her wing. She kind of lifted it up and then whacked it down on my arm. |
| 1:44.0 | Lesson learnt do not pet pigeons. |
| 1:47.0 | I've come to see her because she's the closest thing we've got to an iconic species that back 350 years ago was probably making a very similar sound |
| 1:56.8 | throughout the forested island of Mauritius, 2,000 kilometers off the southeast side of Africa in the Indian Ocean. |
| 2:05.4 | That bird would have been one of the last of its kind, an even larger pigeon known as the Dodo. |
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