Chicks Hatch From Artificial Eggs in Texas Breakthrough That Could Revive Extinct Species [WATCH]

Texas-based Colossal Biosciences says it has hatched live chicks from artificial eggs for the first time, a development the company says could help endangered birds and support efforts to bring back extinct avian species such as the dodo and moa, as reported by The New York Post.

Texas-based Colossal Biosciences says it has hatched live chicks from artificial eggs for the first time, a development the company says could help endangered birds and support efforts to bring back extinct avian species such as the dodo and moa.

The company, which has worked on projects involving the dire wolf and woolly mammoth, said the artificial egg allows a bird embryo to develop completely outside a biological shell while scientists monitor the process from early embryo development through hatching.

BREAKTHROUGH: Colossal scientists hatched healthy chicks from artificial eggs.

No shells. No hens. Just bioengineered eggs that breathe like the real thing.This could help bring back giant extinct birds like the South Island giant moa, whose eggs were ~80x a chicken’s. (1/10) pic.twitter.com/XPa42BXarx— Colossal Biosciences® (@colossal) May 19, 2026

Colossal CEO and co-founder Ben Lamm told The Post that the team hatched 26 “healthy” chickens, which “will live out their natural lives” at the company’s avian facility.

The artificial egg breakthrough could have wider uses beyond chickens, according to Colossal. The company says the technology could help preserve endangered birds with low hatch rates while also supporting long-term work involving extinct birds such as the dodo and moa.

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The moa was a large, flightless bird hunted to extinction in New Zealand by Māori settlers about 600 years ago.

Unlike mammal de-extinction projects that can use modern animal surrogates, Colossal said giant birds create a different challenge because no modern bird can incubate a moa egg.

“We didn’t just copy nature,” Lamm told The Post. “We tried to re-engineer it.”

The moa could stand up to 13 feet tall and weigh as much as 500 pounds. Its egg was about eight times larger than an emu egg, making the reproductive challenge much different from projects involving mammals.

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Colossal created a biologically accurate replica egg from titanium using 3D printing.

The artificial structure includes a lattice shell lined with a bio-engineered silicone membrane designed to mimic oxygen transfer in real eggs. According to the company, the porous liner exceeds the oxygen transfer capacity of a normal chicken egg.

That feature addressed a problem seen in shell-less bird embryo research during the 1980s, when scientists had to use supplemental oxygen. Colossal said that method often damaged DNA and affected long-term health.

To test the artificial eggs, scientists placed chicken embryos inside and monitored each developmental stage through a portal at the top. The company said the chick can tap against the artificial egg when ready to hatch.

The system is reusable, scalable, compatible with standard commercial incubators, and could theoretically be adapted to eggs of different sizes, including moa eggs.

“The avian reproductive toolkit has lagged behind mammalian systems for decades because birds present unique developmental challenges,” said Dr. Beth Shapiro, chief science officer of Colossal. “The artificial egg changes that.”

The moa project is being developed with the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre, Māori’s cultural and intellectual institution, and “Lord of the Rings” filmmaker Peter Jackson, who is also a Colossal investor.

Jackson said the de-extinction work will help ensure that “some of the most critically endangered species in Aotearoa/New Zealand are protected for future generations.”

Colossal says any resurrected moa would be introduced into its natural habitat in New Zealand rather than placed in a theme-park-style setting.

Lamm said the company may be years away from creating the moa, possibly in the “early- to mid-2030s.”

In 2025, Colossal announced it had successfully grown pigeon primordial germ cells, which are precursors to sperm and eggs. That work was described as a step toward reviving the dodo, a flightless bird from Mauritius that went extinct 300 years ago.

Lamm said the dodo could potentially be brought back within four or five years, which could help set the stage for work on the moa.

“So as you layer on additional extinct species in a certain workflow, I wouldn’t say they get easier, but you don’t have to design the system from scratch,” said Lamm, who was recently named to the Board of Directors for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

“You just have to do the work.”

Before moving forward fully with the moa, Lamm said the company will likely need another test using emu or ostrich eggs.

“Hopefully they see now we’re using a different form of innovation and technology to undo the sins of the past, as well as use those same technologies to help conservation,” Lamm said.

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