The South Island giant moa, a flightless bird that stood up to 12ft tall, last roamed New Zealand’s forests some 600 years ago. Yet the species may have taken a small, strange step back from extinction — thanks to an artificial egg made of silicone.

Colossal Biosciences, a Texan biotechnology firm, has developed a shell-less system it says is capable of supporting a bird embryo from early development through to the point of hatching.

So far the device has been used to produce baby chickens. The end goal, the company says, is to deploy a much larger version to resurrect the moa, whose eggs were about 80 times the volume of a farmyard hen’s.