Supposing I could resurrect the Dodo, but it costs money to do so. Is there any economic incentive to do it? How much do you think I’d get for it?
Do you see a market for Dodos at all? Would they be good to eat? Would they make good house pets?
Aside from being edible, they would have almost no value at all, at least once the “wow, it’s a Dodo” factor wore off.
Plock plock.
True but the “wow it’s a Dodo” could make a pretty penny in itself. Not sure to who or for what but it could.
Then I should go ahead and toss those Rembrandts I found in the basement last week. That’s going to save me a lot of time-thank you. 
IIRC, the dodo was most certainly not “good to eat.” The Dutch called it the “loathesome fowl.”
Walghvoghel, apparently – the “repulsive fowl”. They’re not sure though if that was the dodo meat they were talking about, or what the dodo ate.
Well, if you were the first to resurrect an extinct species, beating out the mastodon, the Carolina parakeet, the thylacine, and the European lion, I imagine your dodo specimens would be virtually priceless. However, it always comes down to what another person is willing to pay.
Heavens knows there are people out there with enough money to throw $100 million at something like that, but I expect it would be closer to a $30 million price tag. Or so. That’s just a wag.
You’d have to do it more than once too. There were different types. The one the size of turkeys was the one that tasted the worst and the first that died out if I remember correctly. It wouldn’t have much appeal as a food source, so all money would have to be made from the novelty of owning one.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the world doesn’t need more pidgeons. :eek:
Yeah, but it didn’t stop them from killing all of them.
Out of curiosity are you begging the question about the relative “priceless” value of ecological diversity as it relates to some of the modern species that are close to extinction but of questionable economic interest or just aren’t that cute?
If so, it’s interesting to see how priceless a typical Doper might consider a given species prior to its extinction, but apparently not valuable enough to drop a million on producing a breeding pair following its extinction.
Prospect theory at work or something I suppose.
I’d kick in $10.
The value of the dodos would not be much at all.
The value of the technology you develop to clone them might be worth billions.
Clearly this is a case for… Antique Road Show! Just resurrect one and see how what they value it at.
Good point, but what if the technology to clone Dodos only works on Dodos?
Doubtful that any such technology would have no applications outside of creating Dodos.
Not clear what the monetary rewards would be, but it’d be wow for getting invited to some good parties and other celebrity-type stuff.
More to the OP, I guess it would depend on how well it worked: the first few pairs of Dodos would be near priceless. I suspect that many national zoos and educational institutions would give their eyeteeth for a couple. Anyhow, I’ve seen the pics, and dodos are even kind of cute, in an ugly sort of way.
But soon, they’d begin breeding - let us speculate - and most of the novelty value would wear off. At that point: meh.
Unless my “technology” was a well maintained secret plot to keep a bunch of Dodos alive and hidden away somewhere.
This is actually a plot point in SM Stirling’s novel Conquistador.
Ah, but what about omlettes made from dodo eggs? Did you think about that? Might have some health benefits we’re currently unaware of!