Cautious optimism New Zealand could once again be home to the now-extinct Moa, by the year 2035

Texas company, Colossal Bioscience, has partnered with Ngai Tahu in a 50-million-dollar project to revive the flightless bird through gene editing.

Chief executive Ben Lamm says the hope is for a moa thundering through New Zealand bush within 10 years.

He says while it's not as hard as some of their projects, it's still difficult because they don't have great DNA samples available.