The dodo could be brought back from extinction in a new experiment.
The dodo could come back from the dead
Researchers have been successfully able to map the gene sequence of the flightless bird after years of failed attempts.
Professor Beth Shapiro, from the University of California, said: "The dodo genome is entirely sequenced because we sequenced it.
"It's not been published yet but it does exist and we're working on it right now."
Shapiro did warn that it will not be easy to bring the bird back to life again and said the cloning may be the dodo's best hope.
She explained: "The way we can do this is to clone it, the same approach that was used to create Dolly the Sheep. But we don't know how to do that with birds because of the intricacies of their reproductive pathways.
"There are groups working on different approaches for doing that and I have little doubt that we are going to get there eventually."