Isobel Shepherd-Smith has a nice article on The Times website about the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and how it has been working to bring back native creatures from the brink of extinction. The article ticks many of the Last Chance To See boxes with mentions of Carl Jones, Dodos, Mauritius Kestrels, Pink Pigeons, Echo Parakeets, Gerald Durrell, Round Island, and Rodrigues.

In the Seventies the kestrel, the only raptor on the island, was one of the rarest birds in the world – only four lived in the wild. Today there are more than 800.

In 1980 the number of pink pigeons barely made double figures; 27 years later there were 380. In the 1980s the emerald green echo parakeet numbered little more than a dozen; now there are well over 300.
[...]
“At the start of this conservation work in the 1970s the future of the endemic species in Mauritius and Rodrigues seemed bleak and many thought that few could be saved from extinction. Thirty years later the long-term conservation of all the Mascarene [Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues] endemics is within our grasp.”

The Pyrenean Ibex, a Spanish mountain goat, was confirmed as extinct in 2000. Scientists had the foresight to store its DNA in skin samples, preserved in liquid nitrogen, and now there's been the news that scientists were able to clone a baby Ibex by replacing the DNA in a domestic goat egg. Unfortunately the baby died because of lung complications.

This raises the possibility (if ever so slightly), of being able to resurrect other extinct animals.

However, attempts to revive species like the woolly mammoths and the Dodo are burdened with problems. DNA decays as time passes and creates gaps in the genetic codes needed to produce clones.

Last year, scientists released an almost-complete genome of the woolly mammoth, creating gossip that it will be possible to synthesize the DNA.

Professor Robert Miller, director the Medical Research Council's Reproductive Sciences Unit at Edinburgh University, is collaborating with the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland on cloning extraordinary African mammals like the white rhino.

David Quammen's book "The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction", is previewed over at Google Books, and features the pages that introduce Mauritius Kestrel conservationist Carl Jones into the story. Carl Jones featured in both the Last Chance To See book and also in the Rodrigues Fruitbat Radio Episode which is now available for streaming from the BBC Last Chance To See website.

Carl Jones is a tall, sarcastic Welshman with a sheepdog haircut, a weakness for bad jokes, and a manic devotion to native Mauritian wildlife, especially the birds. His reputation carries far beyond south-western Mauritius, but I've only just met him, and I hardly know what to expect. I know that he has lived on the island a dozen years. I know that he runs a bird-rescue project in the vicinity of Riviere Noire, near the mouth of a system of steep valleys and igneous cliffs called (at least by the English speakers in this polyglot culture) the Black River Gorges. I know that the Black River Gorges contain small, precious remnants of forest, enclaves of wild landscape amid the sugar cane and the urban sprawl and the beach-tourism development that carpet modern Mauritius. I know that one focus of Jones's efforts has been the severely endangered falcon, the Mauritius kestrel, which stood just a sneeze from extinction then Jones first arrived. And I know that Jones, though trained as a scientist, retains the admirable passion and zeal of an adolescent pigeon fancier.

The full version of the book is available at both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Here's an excellent essay about the wildlife of Mauritius, written by by Mark Daffey and published on "The Smart Set - Grand Tour" page back in January. The essay covers Dodos, Pink Pigeons, Mauritius Kestrels, Echo Parakeets and more.

From a total of just nine of the endemic Pink Pigeons remaining in the wild in 1990, a successful captive breeding program has increased their numbers on Île aux Aigrettes to 94, out of an estimated 380 throughout Mauritius. Most of them can be found in the protected Black River Gorges — Mauritius’ only national park.
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While such feral animals are slowly being eradicated, the more than 30 staff who work on the island on any one day concentrate most of their efforts towards preserving native species, such as the Mauritius Fody, Echo Parakeet, Telfair’s Skink, and the Mauritius Kestrel, whose numbers had dropped to just four worldwide in 1974 (there are now more than 1,000).

The Times of India has more news on Fred The Dodo's potential for yielding DNA from his bones.

Late last year, biologists looking for cave cockroaches accidentally discovered a dodo skeleton in the highlands of Mauritius.

Nicknamed 'Fred' after one of its discoverers, the skeleton's bones were badly decomposed and fragile, but there is still a good chance of extracting some dodo DNA because of the stable temperature and dry to slightly humid environment (keys to DNA preservation) of the cave. (Scientists think Fred ended up in the bottom of the cave because he sought shelter from a violent cyclone but fell down in a deep hole and could not climb out.)

It's been quite a month for the potential discovery of ancient DNA.

First up is the recent discovery of a well preserved Dodo skeleton on the island of Mauritius. National Geographic News has the story...

Researchers say the find would likely yield the first useful samples of the extinct, flightless bird's DNA. Very little has been known about the dodo—from what exactly it looked like to what it ate—since it became extinct in the 1600s.

The new skeleton is thought to be complete and was likely preserved by its cave setting. The cavers found the remains off the coast of Africa on Mauritius, the only island were dodos were known to have lived.

Far to the North, a baby mammoth has been unearthed in Siberia and is due to be shipped to Japan for analysis. It is said to be the best preserved specimen of its type, and some scientists are desperate to try and recover some intact DNA to attempt a cloning process. BBC News has the story (including a video report)...

The six-month-old female calf was discovered on the Yamal peninsula of Russia and is thought to have died 10,000 years ago.

The animal's trunk and eyes are still intact and some of its fur remains on the body.
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Larry Agenbroad, director of the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs research centre in South Dakota, US, said: "To find a juvenile mammoth in any condition is extremely rare." Dr Agenbroad added that he knew of only three other examples.

Some scientists hold out hope that well preserved sperm or other cells containing viable DNA could be used to resurrect the mammoth lineage.

Despite the inherent difficulties, Dr Agenbroad remains optimistic about the potential for cloning.

"When we got the Jarkov mammoth [found frozen in Taimyr, Siberia, in 1997], the geneticists told me: 'if you can get us good DNA, we'll have a baby mammoth for you in 22 months'," he told BBC News.

I thought I'd share these interesting animations by Iain Gardner from the UK.

Firstly, check out his film "Flight of the Dodo" which features Carl Jones talking about his work in Mauritius with the Pink Pigeon and Echo Parakeet.

And now, check out these "Sketchbook" animations of endangered animals such as Aye-Aye, Gorilla, Polar Bears and Rhinos. Iain says "These studies are as much about memory as they are observation. Memories are all we will have left of these species unless more is done to protect these wonderful creatures in the wild."

The current issue of Doctor Who Magazine (#381) features an interview with novelist Jacqueline Rayner about her Tenth Doctor novel "The Last Dodo". She said that the idea of an "I-Spy book of extinct animals" tickled her, something that would be, on the face of it, impossible... Unless you were a Time Lord.

Doctor Who Magazine asked the question:

DWM: Was your interest perhaps piqued by [former Doctor Who Script Editor] Douglas Adams' Last Chance To See? You've referred to a few of the same very endangered species as he did - the aye-aye, the kakapo and so on...
No, I've been interested as long as I can remember - I was a passionate member of the then-World Wildlife Fund. But both the radio series and book of Last Chance To See are heartrending pieces of work, which I deliberately didn't reread while doing my research - I didn't want to risk subconsciously plagiarising anything. But anyone who's not experienced Last Chance To See, please go out and get it now!