Michael Rothman / Rothman Natural Science Illustration
Animals (Didunculus strigirostris) is the national bird of Samoa, but is on the verge of extinction
The manumea has not been photographed since 2013. Recently, a team of biologists used an advanced machine learning algorithm capable of identifying its distinctive call — which helped the team achieve several observations of Samoa’s elusive national bird.
O dodo became so much synonym of extinction that its name has entered the cultural lexicon to describe vanished species — although this may one day no longer be true.
the controversial biotechnology company known for, technically, dire wolves, is a species to be revived.
A arrival of Portuguese sailors and the Dutch to Mauritius in the 16th century, brought the dodo to a rapid end. This peculiar-looking, large and flightless bird, confined to a single island, was quickly decimated by humans and the predators they brought with them.
A last observation confirmed evidence of a dodo dates back to 1662.
Resurrecting the dodo implies collect as much genetic data as possible of closely related species. This is where the good luck (Didunculus strigirostris), known as the “little dodo” of Samoa, says .
O good luck is not only visually similaras well as a close relative of the extinct dodo. However, it is also on the verge of following the same path. Also called dand toothed pigeono, manumea has not been photographed since 2013.
MNRE / Government of Samoa
There are very few photographs of the incredibly rare Samoan manumea
Still, scientists believe that there are some copies in nature. To prove this, the Samoa Conservation Society (SCS) established a partnership with Colossal to develop a advanced algorithm machine learning capable of identify the characteristic call of the manumea.
However, this algorithm was created with just five minutes of audio recordings and, furthermore, the song of the bird is difficult to distinguish from the call of the more common Pacific imperial pigeon.
A best proof of the survival of the species it would be, in fact, observing a live specimen, in freedom. All previous attempts had been unsuccessful, but in 2025, an SCS team managed to do it.
On October 17, the team entered the jungle to begin an intensive six-week search for the manumea. They have repeated this effort twice a year for the past three years. But this time, the team members achieved not one, but Several observations of Samoa’s elusive national bird.
The search took place in the Uafato Conservation Area, ancestral lands protected by local Uafato families. Several species of trees were bearing fruit in the region, creating ideal conditions for the manumea to feed.
On several occasions, team members they saw a manumea sneaking around among the trees, too fast and far away to be photographed.
No nests were observed or juveniles in the area. The team concluded that one or several solitary adults are there only to feed, and not to nest.
Samoa Conservation Society
According to , the last confirmed sighting of this bird was in August 2020. most recent evidence of reproduction It dates back to December 2013, when a calf was spotted and photographed in a tree.
Regardless of whether or not Colossal manages to clone a dodo, and whether this is positive or negative, the company’s interest in these birds has been channeled significantly funding for conservation researchsuch as the search for manumea.
Maybe then we won’t have to make efforts to eradicate it one day.
