Well, it was, of course .... but Japanese geneticists have managed to re-create living Moas using an astonishingly simple idea. Recent data files of the DNA of thousands of the world's birds were searched for any links to extinct species, and up came a surprising result. Two living species, Rifleman and McGregor's Gardenerbird, were found each to have exactly half of the Moa's DNA. It seemed to good to be true, but true it was, and after a 17-year series of experimental trials the DNA of both birds was recombined to create Moa DNA ..and two years later , using a Turkey as the mother, the world's first living Moa in thousands of years was hatched, and survived. Since then, not only have 11 other Moas been created, but they have also interbred to produce, as of last year, 14 young, all but three of which are still living. This was all done in total secrecy, and has only come out towards the end of 2016. That seems all very good .... but is it ? The thing is, I wrote almost exactly the same article in my previous birding blog .. .the one that disappeared mysteriously ..... assuming that everyone would realise that it was a joke ..an almost plausible joke ..... but a joke nevertheless. However, as time went by, it got hundreds of hits every day, week after week ... and I started to get worried that students all over the world were being given essays to do about extinct birds and were using my article in their work. Cripes !! I eventually stuck a notice in the article asking "anybody who was reading it" to let me know why ... and warning them that it was, actually, completely made up, fictional .. what The Donald might call " fake news." But as Michael Nesmith nearly said, " The Hits Just Kept on Coming" and nobody ever told me why. Now of course, you, dear reader, were not fooled at all by my silly story. however, both of those bird species ARE true ... Rifleman ( one word!) and McGregor's Gardenerbird both exist. Strange, but true. ODD UPDATE Here's a ridiculous coincidental thing that I found in Saturday's "i" ......you could hardly make it up ... So, having written this made-up story twice, and made it clear that it's pure fantasy twice, a few days later I find out that the Moa might well be re-created.... but not in such an interesting and silly way as my method. Hey-ho! Now here's top band Death Cab for Cutie, and one of their anthemic songs ... "Transatlanticism". There's so many wonderful versions of this on the net, millions of watchers, all in tears! Of course, big strong old me didn't burst into tears.
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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