Dr Nic Rawlence: game-changing method to extract ancient DNA

Extracting DNA from a fossil would traditionally require chopping or drilling into it, a method suitable for bones from large creatures like moa, but would destroy precious remnants of smaller fauna such as geckos, frogs, and birds.

But a groundbreaking “bone bath” technique developed by researchers at the University of Otago now allows researchers to access ancient DNA non-destructively. Dr Nic Rawlence, director of University of Otago Paleogenetics Laboratory, says the new method allows them to now start reconstructing the evolutionary history of some of New Zealand’s tiniest taonga.