One important thing that needs to always be considered - having wild lands that the animals can inhabit and not be interfered with. Having a museum or zoo specimen is nice, but we need to fully rewild the species.

Thank you, de extinction projects like this are so inspiring to me as a biologist

Ben Novak has the coolest job ever.

Man has made a lot of bonehead moves in his time on the planet, but the persecution of the passenger pigeon until it was extinct has to be the number one travesty.

This could actually be plausible! Like the reintroduction of the wolf in Yellowstone, an apex predator bought back after a 100 year hiatus has almost single handedly brought equallibriam back the rivers, bison, elk, deer, vegetation etc... Much of the deforestation that caused the decimation of the passenger pigeon, those old growth Forrest's are making a huge comeback through conservation efforts. We could make this happen!!

Ben, I love this. I appreciate that you're working on it and I appreciate that you're so articulate about it, too. This speech is poignant and beautiful and really conveys the sadness and longing I feel for these currently extinct species.

American chestnut, passenger pigeon, and the Carolina parakeet are the three species We need to bring back to America.

I am working on bringing the american chestnut back - American Chestnuts were the main tree in the eastern USA numbering between 3.5-4.0 BILLION! This is the main food of the passenger pigeon. Nuts can grow from trees planted as seed in as little as 7 years. Wish more people would join us.

they need to make a movie about this happening.

Ben Novak left a review for my book on this topic and it made my day today. He sent it in september but I didn't read it until now. I know he will never read this but I want to thank him so much and it makes me feel better just to type this comment.

The History Guy did a nice video about the history of the passenger pigeon - he also tied in the connection between the forest and the pigeon. He spoke of how the demise of the passenger pigeon lead to the reduction of White Oak forests. How the passenger pigeon helped promote the white oak through its droppings which not only fertilized the ground but helped keep the area around the trees clear of other species of trees (such as the red oak). A friend who is into fine furniture making is always on the hunt for a good buy on white oak. Hope we can bring the passenger pigeon back. Make the forest great again!

We have to bring back the chestnut tree foreChestnutst of North America. That was a primary food source for those birds. Then you can reintroduce cornerstone species and if you reintroduce big game like the wood and forest bison then it could really be the American forests of the 1500’s.

When I was a teen I put a morning dove egg in one of are pigeon nest and they raised it as one of their own

Would passenger pigeons see into the ultraviolet like many other bird species. If so, when you dye your pigeons, you must take that into account. :)

Why not resurrect the Great Auk? There is plenty of genetic material available in European museums, especially in England. The great Auk is closely related to the Razorbill. The main differences are : - The great Auk is larger, has abbreviated wings more like a penguin's, and has a white spot just behind its eye. The eggs too are very similar, except that those of the Great Auk are larger. The genomes of the two birds are closely similar and in the not-so-distant past they had a common ancestor. The Razorbill also swims like a penguin in pursuit of fish, but although its wings are small they are large enough for it to fly in a rather laborious manner. If you could insert the gene for larger size, the gene for atrophied wings and the gene producing the white spot on the great Auk's head into a Razorbill, you would have a Great Auk. They both shared a similar lifestyle except that atrophied wings would not allow either bird to breed on cliff ledges. Great Auks were forced to breed on rocky islets. There is more prestige attached to bringing back the Great Auk, which became extinct about 1850 (last reliable sighting was in 1844).

I should do this kind of thing later in my life with my favorite extinct North American bird; The Carolina Parakeet

I wonder how far along this is. I would like to see it in my lifetime.

I would love to see wood and forest bisons brought back to the forests of North America.

One guy said that their major source of food was chestnuts and they are practically extinct. That would make sense, and the deer herds must have been like buffalo herds because 1 in 4 tree's were chest nuts.

its must be worth a try and with this much passion it could well work good luck comrades

OK, IT'S BEEN SIX YEARS NOW. WHERE ARE THEY?!?!

I still have hope that these birds will come back...

You will need the Darling 58 American Chestnut tree. This will supply food during migration. Both work together.

If you bring them back i'll send them forward.

The extinction of the passenger pigeon seems to coincide with the demise of the american chestnut tree. Was this a major food source and if so shouldn't we restore this food source first

how about the ivory billed woodpecker and the carolina parakeet,,,those would be my top 2

What would be the point if the American chestnut hasn't been brought back yet? That was their main food supply.

I'm going to be honest here. As a nature lover and self-proclaimed "Bird Nerd", this excites me. But as an aerospace engineer, this also terrifies me. We would need MAJOR overhauls to our airborne infrastructure and the planes themselves if we want Passenger Pigeons to not wreak havoc on our aircraft. Bird strikes kill (edit: both birds and people) - this would bring that to a whole new, and extremely dangerous, level.

I noticed that the passenger pigeon and passenger pigeon eggs at the Pember Library & Museum in Granville is not listed among the locations. Just wanted to let you know we have at least one mount and numerous eggs in our collection. And though I have looked, I can't find your "The Great Comeback" page on Facebook

Basically they grab the closest living relative and alter one of the cells of that organism by mutating it to get very close or almost exactly the same as the one the scientists want the bring it to life

Why doesn’t anyone talk about America’s native parakeet that was driven to extinction. Please bring back the Carolina parakeet

They were eaten. In fact, hunting Passenger Pigeons was a major industry back in the 1800's with hunters providing wagon load and railway car loads of them for markets in the city. Just in economic terms, hunting them to extinction was a very dumb move. Even if Passenger Pigeons are never widely devoured again, once recreated again, one can still find domestic Pigeon Squabs at some farmers' markets.

Someone somewhere stated that dinasours grew when food was abundant the more of one souce the preditors became larger. The loss of that source the smaller. Crossing or mutating still could be availavble, but the studies are more expensive. business support drops in and out when something could prove to be profitable.

The American chestnut won't remember the passenger pigeon like oaks, poplars, and Naples. SAD.

Still waiting for someone to address the problem of the European Starlings that have taken over the country and will compete against the pigeons.

great job novak

The real issue is will you be able to develop the social structure complete with language and behavior. I think it is a noble effort and I hope it goes well.

I hope they also bring back the carolina parakeet too.

Totally cool. Get the flock going!!!

hell yeah, lets go for it

where is the transcript?

Is it now not extinct now because its 5 years later now

It surprises me when people say that the PP is supposed to be most closely related to band-tailed pigeons when they look just like large mourning doves with the tapered tail that band-tailed pigeons don't have but mourning doves do. The coloration is also just like mourning doves with the fawn dorsum and rosy breast, neither of which the band-tailed pigeon has.

Let's say that they do create young passenger pigeons to get raise by other types pigeons that's fur are dyed to look like parent passenger pigeons. Would the young passenger pigeons truly act and function like their original selves or would they start acting and function like type of pigeons that raise them? This to me would be a concern in trying to bring them back.

The Indian meaning for "Mimico" is "the resting place of the wild pigeons. Passenger Pigeons would rest at the mouth of Mimico Creek before flying south across Lake Ontario. Passenger Pigeons once numbered in the billions. Sadly, the last Passenger Pigeon died in captivity in 1914. Our community is beginning to tell more of our conservation history through art/ murals. Your story could be a valuable contender to spread the word in our area. Bravo & good luckX!

How will you control inbreeding? Is there enough DNA to "prevent" that to a large extent?

Better restore the American chestnut as well, you’ll need that keystone species as well

How would the passenger pigeon know to not mate with the rock pigeon? how would the passenger pigeon not be influenced by the artificial flock in a non-traditional manner? Interesting study though!

I cant believe this pigeon didnt interbreed with other pigeon species

God I hope they can do it

One problem. The American Chestnut tree needs to be restored first.

is thare pigeons with passener pigeon dna

Is he still working on this in 2018?

I love pigeons

Passenger Pigeon spotted in North Carolina

Passenger pigeons relied on the once giant American chestnuts that grew in the eastern USA. They won't be able to have passenger Pigeons until they breed blight resistant American chestnuts. The Giant American Chestnut forests were obliterated by one of the biggest ecological Forest disasters ever recorded in modern history between 1904 and 1945. The tree fungus or blight, was the main reason why the passenger pigeon disappeared.

You could do this, but Passenger Pigeons may still be alive. The last recorded one may have died, but people have discovered species that were believed to be extinct too, like the coelacanth

The forests are not the same forests the great flocks knew. The most numerous, stable mast producing tree of the east is gone. One the passenger pigeons relied on heavily. Our forests cannot be returned to it's former glory without the American Chestnut. The oaks are hardly enough to feed the deer and turkey. Much less flocks of pigeons

Hey did they manage to bring this bird back to life?

just make it happen do it

Did you ever think that it is extinct at mother natures will for a reason? That it was inevitable for it not to hv survived.

It's an interesting project, but the problem is that the passenger pigeonwas an agricultural pest and had a likestyle which made it very susceptible to persecution, which is why it died out. Couldn't you resurrect the Dodo, which was never an agricultural pest? There is some genetic material preserved in the Ashmolean and other museums for you to work with. Or what about the Great Auk?

It seems like you're making a good point, but I don't know much about genetics. Could you elaborate on this?

❤️❤️❤️

no progress in 10 years?

Well Ben J. Novak you stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you patterned it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunch box and now you're selling it...you're just selling it

What happened to this?

Well thought out. The poor parenting character seems to help with aviary bred birds.

This is depressing. Trying to work out how to undo the bad actions of humans on a beautiful bird.

Deep inside, we are all environmentalists. The latent environmentalist inside tells me to apply some critical thinking here. Ben Novak seems to be seeking our help in pursuit of his private childhood dream. Given our inability to predict or control anything, there are plenty of unanswered questions here. Mr. Novak hopes to release the passenger pigeon into an ecology, which has adapted to its absence. And he will do it through gene-splice engineering, Given the discovery of embedded code in the genome, along with overlapping code and even meta-data, Novak runs the risk of unleashing something he didn't intend. I down-vote the idea, and will roll with the diligent preservation of what we still have.

I head that there were just too many of them and they messed up the ecology. Too many of them. Like people. I want to see wooly mammoths.

Bring back aurochs

One wonders if all those pigeons killed in the past where mostly eaten or just used for target practice...??? Roasted and stuffed pigeon was the food of the Nobility in Europe and Middle East during the Medieval period. There are some very good recipes from Egypt, Syria, Italy and France that are worth trying. So by all means, bring these tasty flying rodents back to our dining tables. YUM...

Its hard do believe that this Species that numbered in the Millions and Billions could of come to Extinction in just a short time!... It had to of had a Fatal Flaw, and that was probably that it drew Humans to it, because of its Huge Numbers and easy access... I'm a Hunter and I hunt Ducks, Geese , and Mourning Doves (Which are a Cousin of the Passenger Pigeon), but Mourning Doves are still here !!!... Its larger and more numerous Cousin the Passenger Pigeon, drew Humans to it !... It couldn't be Ignored !... Especially because it was so Obvious , and flew in such unbelievable sized flocks !... And back then, things were different... No Game Laws, Hunting Seasons or Bag Limits.... People thought they could make a Profit off of the Species, and the Numbers would never cease or dry up !... The Pigeon had a definite Flaw in its make up though !... The Heredity of this Species, doomed it !!!... If it couldn't fly, eat and travel in Huge (unbelievable) Numbers , it couldn't Survive... Once its Numbers were depleted, beyond its survival Threshold, it was doomed... Unlike the Mourning Dove , if the Passenger Pigeons numbers could not be Maintained , beyond a certain Threshold , even if it was still in the Millions, it was on its way out... The Species had definite weakness and inherent Flaw, which led to its demise... Other Species in the U.S. that were here when the Passenger Pigeon was here , are still around ? ... Their Genetic make-up was stronger... and they could adjust somewhat to Change, better than the Pigeon... and its a sad story !.... I wish them luck, on trying to Genetically bring back the Passenger Pigeon.... It would be nice to actually see one, before I die... I've always dreamed about what it would of been like to have actually seen them in their Day & Time... Kenneth G. Hebert Lake Charles, Louisiana

Pigeons are dodo birds?

gl cloning 5B pigeons lol

shouldn't we focus on what's still alive and being threatened by Extinction.

What is the use of bringing back the passenger pigeon why should we put so much money into this?

Thing is, even if you're successful, would the birds you create really be passenger pigeons? Sure, they may have (your idea of) the DNA of true passenger pigeons, but they wouldn't be descended from the same birds as the original pigeons.

Just make sure bird hunting is illegial in the areas you going to breed them

If we have billions of these birds again won't it be a problem for the airplanes?

No

i bet they gave up....

Wish humans would die out

too many forced metaphors, very distracting overall.

This was uploaded on april 1 so i think this is a fraud

But Is this really bringing back a passenger pigeon... no it’s breeding a band tailed pigeon that will look like and behave like a passenger pigeon 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

So nobody cares about endangered animals? ?

It will not happen, this is a waste of time.

Passenger Pigeon spotted in North Carolina