

Passing On: 100 years ago, the last passenger pigeon died - lelf
http://thesmartset.com/article/article09171401.aspx

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spullara
It was once the most abundant bird in North America, comprising 1/4 of all
birds:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon)

It appears that its peculiar communal mating and nesting behavior made it very
easy to kill them en masse and that plus their utility lead to their demise.

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cookrn
The Long Now Foundation considers the Passenger Pigeon a (strong) candidate
for de-extinction [1]. There is also a recent reflection on the passing of
Martha from them at that link.

[1] [http://longnow.org/revive/what-we-do/passenger-
pigeon/](http://longnow.org/revive/what-we-do/passenger-pigeon/)

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oddly
Even if cloned, these birds won't come back as a whole. The instinct and
habits of the original passenger pigeons are gone. It's like cloning a mammoth
from a elephant, only to see it live like an elephant.

~~~
Houshalter
Instincts and any other genetic behavior would come back. Only learned
behavior would be gone, but it can be relearned.

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mschuster91
The question is: is the DNA contained inside the stuffed pigeons enough (and
of good enough quality) to clone the birds entirely or merge the DNA with rock
pigeon DNA?

