The Lord of the Rings and King Kong director is helping resurrect the giant moa, a flightless bird extinct for 600 years.
While Peter Jackson prepares to return to Middle-earth with a new Lord of the Rings film, he’s also embarking on a real-world adventure that sounds straight out of science fiction. The acclaimed New Zealand director has joined forces with Colossal Biosciences, a Texas-based genetic engineering company, in an ambitious bid to bring back the South Island giant moa, a flightless bird that went extinct around 600 years ago.
Once standing more than 12 feet (3.6 meters) tall and weighing over 200 kilograms, the moa dominated New Zealand’s ancient forests before vanishing shortly after the arrival of Polynesian settlers. Now, Jackson and his collaborators hope to revive the species using recovered DNA and advanced gene-editing techniques, creating what some are calling a scientific version of Jurassic Park.
Jackson, a long-time moa enthusiast with a personal collection of over 400 fossilized bones, is more than a casual supporter.
