Colossal Hatches 26 Chicks in Artificial Shell

Colossal hopes to scale the platform up to incubate eggs many times larger. Its ultimate target is the South Island giant moa, a flightless New Zealand bird that stood about three metres tall and weighed up to 200 kilograms before humans hunted it to extinction around 600 years ago. Moa eggs were about 80 times the volume of a chicken egg, far too large for any living bird to carry. The company is pursuing the moa project with the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre in New Zealand and with filmmaker Peter Jackson, who is also an investor in the firm.

However, independent scientists urge caution. They note the announcement came through a press release with little peer-reviewed data. Biologist Vincent Lynch argues the device is really an artificial eggshell, not a complete artificial egg, because it still needs biological parts from a real egg. Bioethicist Arthur Caplan asks what habitat a revived moa would even live in. Colossal next plans to test the platform with emu and ostrich eggs. CEO Ben Lamm says a moa could return by the early 2030s and a dodo within four or five years.