Long before Polynesian hunters arrived in New Zealand around 1300 CE, up to 2.5 million giant, flightless moa birds ruled the islands, some towering up to 12 feet tall. These massive creatures eventually went extinct, roughly 600 years ago, leaving behind all sorts of archaeological evidence, including some unhatched eggs, of which there are fewer than 40 complete eggs worldwide.
Now, Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has teamed up with de-extinction startup Colossal Biosciences to buy an extraordinarily rare moa egg that popped up at a Colorado auction house after sitting in a private collection for 60 years. Jackson and Colossal bought the 8.75-inch-tall egg and plan to repatriate it to its ancestral homeland by handing it over to the indigenous Ngāi Tahu people.
A Rare Prehistoric Egg Could Help Peter Jackson Revive an Extinct Giant Bird
Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh previously poured $15 million into Colossal’s high-tech, ambitious crusade to bring the giant moa back from the dead, in its way, as we have covered before in the company’s attempts to bring back some version of dire wolves and Tasmanian tigers, and is inventing 3D-printed artificial eggs currently being used to grow live chickens.
The moa egg needs restoration, but experts expect it to become one of the five best-preserved moa eggs on earth. Researchers hope nondestructive imaging, along with other methods, could unlock essential genetic data about the moa’s lineage and reproductive biology that might eventually help the team at Colossal go all Jurassic Park on it and bring it back from the dead, in some form.
Colossal has already created the aforementioned artificial incubation systems and has even sequenced genomic samples based on a stash of moa bones owned by Peter Jackson. Colossal’s chief science officer, Beth Shapiro, says local indigenous leaders will guide all testing on the egg.
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