What do Jurassic Park and Lord of the Rings have in common? A Colossally bad handle on genetic engineering.
What has Colossal done now?
In their latest press stunt, Colossal Biosciences claims they want to bring back the extinct giant Moa, a huge bird endemic to New Zealand. That is, until it was likely hunted to extinction about 600 years ago. Moas stood around 12 ft tall, looking like a very scary emu.
What do Moas have to do with Lord of the Rings?
LOTR director, Peter Jackson is a native New Zealander and has a fascination for the extinct giant bird. He owns the world’s largest private collection of Moa bones, with about 400 bones. He has promised $15 mil in funding to Colossal’s project to try and study the bird’s DNA. Colossal used a similar tactic when they involved George RR Martin in their “dire wolf” project and made him co-author on their preprint.
Any issues with this new project?
Private fossil collections can be problematic for science, especially when focused on a specimen as rare as the Moa, as it prevents researchers from accessing them. It is illegal to export Moa bones from New Zealand, which is likely why Colossal is partnering with Jackson, alongside a local Maori research center.
So, where is this Moa?
The project is reported to be in very early stages. The first thing Colossal needs to do is identify well-preserved bones so they can extract DNA. They will then compare the moa DNA to living species like the emu, to look for differences.
Isn’t this similar to their previous projects?
Yes, its similar to what we already seen them do with wooly mammoth and dire wolves, but birds are a little different since bird embryos develop within an egg, so they will have to come up with a different incubaition process. I suspect the want their Jurassic Park “dinosaur breaking out of the egg” moment…
How do scientists feel about this?
As usual, this is just a publicity stunt with no evidence attached. Due to Colossal’s previous work, researchers are worried that the idea of “de-extincting” anything pull focus from endangered species that already exist and need funding to not go extinct.
News source: https://apnews.com/article/peter-jackson-moa-de-extinction-colossal-biosciences-04260e26cbe04e787640c9502df94dda
As covered on the Daily Tech News Show on July 10th 2025. For a more detailed conversation, listen here:
Other Colossal coverage :
Nicole Ackermans, CVN lab 
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