Martha, your genes are on the table

Passenger Pigeon - Tourte voyageuse - Ectopistes migratorius

       

Louis Agassi Fuertes, National Geographic

The original Passenger Pigeon is indeed extinct.

"The Passenger Pigeon – also known as Ectopistes migratorius – is an extinct bird which was endemic to North America. At one point in time, billions of these birds lived and flew over North America. However, deforestation and massive hunting reduced their numbers from the billions all the way to extinction in only a few years. It is probably one of the largest extinctions caused by mankind."

https://www.newdinosaurs.com/passenger-pigeon/

 "Martha, thought to be the last passenger pigeon, died on September 1, 1914, at the Cincinnati Zoo. The eradication of this species is a notable example of anthropogenic extinction." 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon

"When she died, scientists packed her into a 300-pound block of ice and put her on a train to Washington."
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/09/meet-martha-the-very-last-passenger-pigeon/380473/

Fascinating footage on this link, showing Martha stuffed, preserved forever (as it were).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ1sWJcc_cY

A touching essay that includes Martha's final years in the Cincinnati Zoo, and her pavillion is now a National Historical Landmark.
https://abcbirds.org/martha-the-last-of-her-kind/

A group called Revive and Restore whose mission to"enhance biodiversity through new techniques of genetic rescue for endangered and extinct species."  In 2015 they held a "New Genomic Solutions for Conservation Problems Workshop". Rather vague cahier des charges. We don't know if they've cooked up anything, but as I mentioned on the previous pigeon blog, people are breeding birds for passenger pigeon qualities. 

https://reviverestore.org/about-the-passenger-pigeon/

Martha, your genes are on the table!

Old picture of Martha at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC