Jurassic Park to remain science fiction....?
From the corridors of Oxford University, UK, comes news that breakthroughs in the genome mapping of extinct species of birds might one day bring Jurassic Park closer to reality....with early successful research conducted on the extinct New Zealand Moas, should birders be heading for the woodlands of Oxfordshire ?
The first ever functional genome sequences from an extinct species have been mapped by scientists at Oxford University. The mitochondrial DNA sequences - which provide vital information about evolution - were obtained from two Giant Moas and a Madagascan Elephant-bird, by researchers working at the University's Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre, which was set up in 1999 for the study of ancient DNA. The findings are published in the journal Nature.
The sequences obtained from the moas are significantly longer than any previously obtained from ancient specimens. The sequences provide a window to past evolutionary events within the "ratites" (which include other giant flightless species such as the Ostrich, Emu and Kiwi). This has allowed the researchers to link the ratites with the break up of the super-continent 'Gondwana', a huge land mass which stretched across the southern hemisphere 140-180 million years ago.
Dr Alan Cooper, Director of the Ancient Biomolecules Centre and a Natural Environment Research Council Advanced Research Fellow, said: "We are pleased to be the first to obtain a complete mitochondrial sequence from an extinct species. The knowledge that we have gained from these experiments will be invaluable to us as we continue our work with other extinct species. Jurassic Park is a nice idea, but ultimately it seems that it will be impossible for us to clone extinct species, and therefore it is critical that we do not become complacent in our conservation efforts and start assuming that we will be able to bring things back to life if they do become extinct."
Finding Moas:
Finding Moas, or their remains at least, isn't as difficult as birders might think. Eradicated by Maoris, primarily for food, their bones can usually be found wherever there is evidence of Maori settlements.
The eleven species of Moa were probably eradicated in the 1600's, although some sight records from the 1800's might just be valid.
The Moa thigh bone (photo - right) from Dinornis novaegealandiae was found in woodlands at Tahakopa Bay on the west coast of South Island in 1997 and now resides in a drawer somewhere (!) at the Invercargill Museum, New Zealand.