Althouse: "I’d love to do the dodo."

February 22, 2025

"I’d love to do the dodo."

"There are some really rich people who really like birds. Whichever bird gets rescued first will be the one a rich guy loves the most."

From "How genetically modified eggs could bring dodo back to life/In a case of the egg before the chicken, new experiments — involving the insertion of DNA into chicken embryos — hope to revive at-risk or extinct bird species" (London Times).

22 comments:

rehajm said...: The movies tell us this is a bad idea…; 2/22/25, 10:37 AM
mccullough said...: I remember when dodo was an insult in first grade in the late 70s; 2/22/25, 10:40 AM
Jupiter said...: If you believe in the evolution of species, then it is clear that the egg preceded the chicken.; 2/22/25, 10:42 AM
Jupiter said...: And what is the current status of the tale, that starlings were introduced to the US by some rich idiot who wanted us to have every bird mentioned in Shakespeare? NYT says it is "debunked", but NYT = lying liars who always lie.; 2/22/25, 10:44 AM
Ice Nine said...: I'm really gldd to learn this is happening. My life has been painfully bereft of Dodos.; 2/22/25, 10:47 AM
gilbar said...: no No NO!
you do NOT want a dodo, you WANT a moa!!; 2/22/25, 10:55 AM
Aggie said...: "Going the way of the Dodo" could take on a whole new meaning.; 2/22/25, 11:02 AM
n.n said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/22/25, 11:08 AM
Howard said...: Maybe it's because billionaires want to go the way of the dodo bird by AI reincarnation; 2/22/25, 11:10 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Reminds me of Howard Waldrop's "The Ugly Chickens" about an ornithologist tracking down a legend that there had been living dodos in Louisiana in the 1920's and 30's. Turns out a poor backwoods family had somehow gotten a hold of some in the past and raised them until one of the family got put on Huey Long's payroll. To celebrate they held a big party and cooked up all the "ugly chickens" and served them to their guests.; 2/22/25, 11:19 AM
Smilin' Jack said...: Elephant bird! Elephant bird!; 2/22/25, 11:41 AM
Wince said...: Brundlebird and avian politics?; 2/22/25, 12:40 PM
JAORE said...: And thus the duck billed platypus was formed.
We are not so wise that taking this road, or mucking about with deadly virus samples, is a good idea.; 2/22/25, 12:57 PM
Leland said...: Michael Crichton tried to warn us, but he's been gone now for so long.; 2/22/25, 1:16 PM
William said...: I wonder how they taste. Would they be more or less susceptible to avian flu? Maybe dodo breeders could sell them as pets. Their utter vulnerability would make them appealing, especially to cats.; 2/22/25, 1:40 PM
pious agnostic said...: Torment Nexus; 2/22/25, 1:51 PM
n.n said...: Do the dodo is either an avian allegory or an implicit interface.; 2/22/25, 2:35 PM
Paddy O said...: The movies tell us this is a bad idea to bring back animals who never coexisted with humanity. I think the only ones who should be worried about bringing back animals who were killed off by humans are the animals.

I'd love to see dodos, passenger pigeons, even some pygmy mammoths. I'm not sure about saber tooth tigers. And coelacanths. We should definitely bring those back.; 2/22/25, 2:48 PM
Paddy O said...: Oh, and someone really needs to get to work on quaggas; 2/22/25, 2:49 PM
billthepill said...: Would rather see the money spent on saving existing species.; 2/22/25, 3:29 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Now if only someone would bring Lauren Bacall back from the dead.; 2/22/25, 3:47 PM
Rabel said...: Y'all might think I post this because I hate everybody, but that's not completely true.; 2/22/25, 4:16 PM