section_path: Current candidate species for de-extinction/Passenger pigeon
section_name: Passenger pigeon
paragraph_text: Passenger pigeon
  
  The passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) numbered in the billions before being wiped out due to unsustainable commercial hunting and habitat loss during the early 20th century. The non-profit Revive & Restore obtained DNA from the passenger pigeon from museum specimens and skins; however, this DNA is degraded because it is so old. For this reason, simple cloning would not be an effective way to perform de-extinction for this species because parts of the genome would be missing. Instead, Revive & Restore focuses on identifying mutations in the DNA that would cause a phenotypic difference between the extinct passenger pigeon and its closest living relative, the band-tailed pigeon. In doing this, they can determine how to modify the DNA of the band-tailed pigeon to change the traits to mimic the traits of the passenger pigeon. In this sense, the de-extinct passenger pigeon would not be genetically identical to the extinct passenger pigeon, but it would have the same traits. In 2015, the de-extinct passenger pigeon hybrid was forecast ready for captive breeding by 2025 and released into the wild by 2030. In October 2024, Revive & Restore collaborated with Applied Ecological Institute to simulate forest disturbances in the American state of Wisconsin to see how trees would react to the reintroduced passenger pigeons. The original 2025 goal was not met, with the new goal for reviving the species for captive breeding set for between 2029 and 2032. However, it could take decades for the species to be reintroduced to the wild.