This bird may be doomed. It's genome has been sequenced, and there is very little genetic diversity in the remaining populations.
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What a curious paper — it's fine research, and it's a useful dollop of data, but it's simultaneously so 21st century and on the edge of being completely trivial. It's like a tiny shard of the future whipping by on its way to quaintness.
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From the linked article: "To avoid this, the researchers are proposing that conservationists consider intensive breeding programs to keep these unique and fascinating birds away from a disappointing end."
Question:
Could some kind of genetic engineering be used to introduce enough diversity into the kiwi genome to give them a chance against that risk (also from the article) that one novel disease could wipe them out?