A groundbreaking new collaboration is working to resurrect one of New Zealand’s most enigmatic lost species, the South Island Giant Moa.
Blending ancient knowledge with cutting-edge science, the cooperative initiative has been launched between the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre in collaboration with U.S.-based biotech firm Colossal Biosciences and filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson.
The initiative seeks to place indigenous values and ecological restoration at the forefront of de-extinction science, representing a historic development in conservation biology. The collaboration marks the first time that an indigenous-led research team will direct a de-extinction initiative of this scale.
Based at the University of Canterbury, the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre will guide the project’s scientific, cultural, and ecological research while ensuring that a focus on traditional Māori knowledge is maintained in proportion to the initiative’s ecological stewardship and community involvement.
Fundamentally, the project aims to do more than merely restore the South Island Moa, a variety of towering flightless birds that reached close to three meters in height. Among its goals are setting a new global precedent for indigenous-led science initiatives, integrating genomic sequencing with artificial reproductive technologies, as well as conservation efforts that include habitat restoration.
Additionally, the project aims to support Māori aspirations for ecological and economic revitalization across the South Island, known traditionally as Te Waipounamu, Māori for the “place of greenstone.”
“This partnership represents a new model where indigenous leadership guides scientific endeavors, recognizing that traditional ecological knowledge and cultural context are essential to responsible de-extinction and species preservation efforts,” said Colossal CEO Ben Lamm, who credited filmmaker Peter Jackson for bringing the parties together.
Colossal Biosciences and Deextinction Science
Earlier this year, Colossal Biosciences made headlines following its announcement that it had used novel deextinction technologies it developed to produce a pair of wolf pups through genetic engineering that more closely resemble the extinct Pleistocene-era species known as the dire wolf than any extant canine.
The company’s achievement, which garnered international media attention, followed the successful sequencing of the dire wolf genome, which produced 500 times more paleogenomic coverage than any previously available data and provided a crucial genetic roadmap for the company’s genetic engineering efforts to produce the unique canines.
Having recently also committed significant investment in New Zealand’s biotech infrastructure to support the new collaboration, now the company is applying its genetic engineering platform toward recreating moa DNA by sequencing and comparing the genomes of all nine known moa species.
Combined with ecological risk assessments, habitat feasibility studies, and development of open-source conservation technologies for broader use under the direction of the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre, Colossal aims to help bring the indigenous-led effort to the forefront of such emerging scientific efforts toward reviving extinct species, while protecting extant ones and their habitats.
“We are honored to contribute our advanced computational and genetic engineering capabilities under the direction of the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre,” Lamm said in a statement.
Reviving New Zealand’s South Island Giant
The moa represents a group of nine species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. These enigmatic giants went extinct around 600 years ago, mainly resulting from overhunting and the destruction of their habitat following Polynesian settlement.
The largest of these extinct birds, the South Island Giant Moa (Dinornis robustus), grew to heights of as much as 3.6 meters when the bird’s neck was fully extended, weighing up to 230 kilograms.
Moa once played a vital ecological role as large herbivores, shaping forests and dispersing seeds. Because of this, their extinction caused major ecological shifts in New Zealand’s biodiversity, which scientists and traditional Māori knowledge holders hope to partially reverse through the new landmark cooperation.
Beyond the Moa’s Resurrection
In addition to its efforts to revive the South Island Moa, Colossal aims to collaborate on genomic biobanking efforts for other species and other focus areas that are of great significance to the Māori culture. Paired with its efforts toward developing a regional repository of indigenous biodiversity, the company plans to fund whānau-led expeditions, provide technical training for Māori youth, and help build new labs and educational facilities in the Ngāi Tahu domain.
“[O]ur earliest ancestors lived alongside moa,” said Kyle Davis, an archaeologist and Ngāi Tahu expert working with Colossal, who emphasized the deep cultural roots of the project.
Davis added that Māori records, “both archaeological and oral, contain knowledge about these birds and their environs.”
“We relish the prospect of bringing that into dialogue with Colossal’s cutting-edge science as part of a bold vision for ecological restoration,” Davis said.
Professor Mike Stevens, Director of the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre, added that this project allows Māori to exercise rangatiratanga (leadership) and tikanga (customs) while addressing ecological and economic challenges in the Anthropocene.
“During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, moa provided meat for sustenance, and bones and feathers for tools and decoration, especially in Te Waipounamu,” Stevens said in a press release on Tuesday, adding that the loss of moa, “through over-harvesting and habitat modification, was a salutary lesson as to the New Zealand archipelago’s ‘fragile plenty’.”
Stevens emphasized that the Ngāi Tahu “have successfully partnered with the New Zealand government over many decades to protect and enhance endangered species,” with a specific focus on the region’s avian species.
Despite this long history involving wildlife conservation with particular relevance to birds of the region, Stevens said the new collaboration will go much further than past efforts.
Sir Peter Jackson expressed his enthusiasm for the project, describing it as a mission to protect New Zealand’s most precious taonga for future generations.
“There’s a lot of science still to be done,” Jackson said, “but we can start looking forward to the day when birds like the moa or the huia are rescued from the darkness of extinction.”
For Jackson, who has previously invested in Colossal’s deextinction projects, the journey that this new collaboration represents is expected to help bring new insights about the history of the region to light, which he said will “enrich discussions as to the potential nature of our future here.”
“Exciting times lay ahead!” Jackson said.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on X: @MicahHanks.