Do you know the Dodo?

Do you know the ‘dodo bird’?

About 350 years ago, there was a flightless bird. Its name was the dodo. The name comes from the Portuguese word ‘dodo’, which means ‘fool’. This bird, weighing about 23 kg, lived on Mauritius, a small island near the African island of Madagascar. Since it lived only on the island, it didn't need to fly even though it had wings. After a long time without flying, its wings became merely ornamental.

The dodo bird, which had been living peacefully on Mauritius, first encountered humans around 1505. In the 16th century, when the Age of Exploration began in Europe, the Portuguese set foot in Africa and also visited Mauritius, where the dodo bird lived. Humans began to show great interest in the dodo bird, which had wings that were more like arms than wings and couldn't fly, and eventually, this interest led to hunting.

The plump dodo bird seemed like a good source of food for hungry sailors, and it began to be hunted by humans. Moreover, after the Dutch began to use Mauritius as a kind of prison, foreign species began to be introduced along with humans. Foreign species like rats, goats, and monkeys attacked the dodo bird and took over its nests. Due to the introduction of these foreign species and the indiscriminate hunting by humans, the dodo bird became extinct in 1681, about 100 years after its first encounter with humans.

Recently, news has emerged that a project to restore the dodo bird is underway. Scientists at UC Santa Cruz and Colossal Biosciences announced that they are carrying out a dodo bird restoration project using DNA extracted from a dodo bird specimen in a museum. If they succeed in restoring an animal that went extinct about four centuries ago, it may increase the possibility of restoring other extinct animals. However, some people question the restoration of extinct animals. They argue that even if an extinct animal is restored, it cannot be exactly the same as the original dodo bird. Furthermore, they are concerned about ethical and practical problems that may arise from restoring extinct animals. Some people argue that it is right for humans to restore an animal that they caused to become extinct, while others say that more effort should be put into protecting endangered animals instead of restoring extinct ones.

Recently, Starbucks Korea released MD featuring the dodo bird. It was a collaboration between Starbucks Korea and Kim Seon-woo, an artist who has been drawing dodo birds. The MD design, which uses embroidery to create a warm feeling in the cold winter and depicts the dodo bird in various colors, has a Korean feel and captures the beauty of the dodo bird.

Along with the dodo bird, restoration projects for other extinct animals are also ongoing. It remains to be seen whether these extinct animal restoration projects will be successful.