Now Extinct Passenger Pigeons may Flock to the Future with Help of DNA Technology

The now extinct passenger pigeon may be ready to swoop in on the scene, again. According to researchers from the non-profit organization, Revive and Restore, with the help of advanced DNA technology, we could be seeing a passenger pigeon in the not so distant future.  

"The goal... is to bring the passenger pigeon all the way back using the genome of the band-tailed pigeon and state-of-the-art genomic technology," wrote the organization, who created the Great Passenger Pigeon Comeback project. "The genomes of the two birds will be compared in close detail, to determine which differences are most crucial. The data and analysis will begin with the process of converting viable band-tailed DNA into viable passenger pigeon DNA."

A mere three centuries ago, this bird was known as one of the most abundant species on Earth. In 1866 in Ontario, it's noted that just one flock of the birds that stretched 300 miles long and one mile wide darkened the skies for 14 hours, according to The Associated Press (AP). And unlike the domesticated carrier pigeons that sent messages, these birds were wild.

However, numerous factors began to contribute to the bird's demise, including climate, food and other issues.

"Here was a bird like the robin that everybody knew and within a generation or two it was gone - and we were its cause, " said Duke University ecologist Stuart Pimm, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Jump ahead 40 years later to 1900, and there were no passenger pigeons left. The only known passenger pigeon, named Martha, could be seen at the Cincinnati Zoo. The then 29-year-old bird died on Sept. 1, 1914, officially knocking out the animal's remaining star. 

"This was a real wake-up call for the public and frankly for scientists too," said Helen James, curator of birds at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, via The Los Angeles Times. "Ornithologists studied birds and they didn't really think of species becoming extinct."

Though no breakthrough reports have yet been noted, Martha may be up for de-extinction with the help of these scientists in time.

Right now, researchers have analyzed the DNA of 12 passenger pigeons in the hopes of assembling their full genomic code. Only time will tell what they come up with.

However, Martha will make another debut, though not a live one, at a new Smithsonian Institution exhibit coming June 24.

Pimm and University of Minnesota evolutionary biologist Bob Zink, who co-authored a study about the pigeon's genetic code via the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , said they also belive that reviving a long-lost species could offer "a type of justice for what we're doing now" and also teach people, "It's so much easier to keep something alive than to bring it back to life."