The flightless birds died out over 350 years ago but Beth Shapiro, the chief scientific officer at the US company Colossal Biosciences, has been able to sample a complete dodo genome through an exhibit from the Museum of Copenhagen.

Shapiro has established that the dodo's closest living relative was the brightly coloured Nicobar pigeon and now plans to edit its genome to introduce the traits of the extinct birds.

The scientist and her team are hoping that a chicken surrogate will lay eggs containing the new dodolike bird, although it will not be identical to the creatures that existed centuries ago.

Shapiro told The Sunday Times newspaper: "One of the biggest misconceptions that we get when we talk about de-extinction is this idea we are able to bring back something that is an identical replica in every way."