SLH: Mythbusting de-extinction to sort fact from fiction
16 October 2025 - 16 October 2025
4:00–5:00 pm (NZDT)
Region(s): Nationwide
Type(s): professional Development
De-extinction hit the headlines recently with the ‘resurrection’ of the dire wolf and the push to bring back the moa. However, can scientists really bring back extinct animals? And more importantly, should they?
Join our host Greta Dromgool and guest presenter Associate Professor Nic Rawlence from the Otago University Zoology Department for a session exploring the science, ethics, and indigenous concerns surrounding de-extinction.
Teams webinar link
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North Island giant moa
The North Island Giant Moa (Dinornis novaezealandiae), a watercolour painting by Paul Martinson, is a depiction of the extinct moa/kuranui. Moa disappeared roughly 200 years after humans first arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand.
De-extinction provides a great context for the classroom, whether teaching socio-scientific issues, ethics or genetics, students will be easily engaged by the fascinating stories and images which highlight the importance of science communication and critical thinking.
This session will be valuable for both upper primary and secondary school teachers as well as anyone else interested in this fascinating topic.
REGISTERWe will be using Teams and will send the link to all those who register just prior to the webinar.
Joining the webinar
Follow these simple steps to join our webinar:
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android by clicking on the Teams link that we will send to all those who register just prior to the webinar, then follow the instructions.
Set up your screen for optimal viewing. If you are using a mobile device, you may wish to view in landscape. You can select full screen under View>More options.
Then you can:
watch, listen to the presentation and discussion
The Science Learning Hub team will be there to support you and answer questions.
If you have any questions, please email us.
Related content
We have been fortunate to host a number of articles written by Dr Nic Rawlence.
You may want to read our Extinction article before the webinar.
Useful links
Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives is the blog of Dr Nic Rawlence and colleagues in the Otago Palaeogenetics Laboratory.
The Conversation hosts 24 of Nic Rawlence’s articles.