Via Augmented Reality at the Natural History Museum in Paris

11 extinct animal species are back thanks to technology

Technology makes it possible to recreate what has disappeared in the French Museum.

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Eleven extinct species of animals are reappearing at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris thanks to augmented reality technology, including the saber-toothed American tiger, which became extinct 10 thousand years ago, and the Madagascar elephant bird, which disappeared during the past millennium.

What unites all these diverse animals is that they met during their lifetime modern humans (Homo sapiens) before their extinction.

"Only technology allows us to recreate what has disappeared," said museum director Bruno David, where the exhibition "Rovivre" opens today.

Using augmented reality glasses, seven dodos suddenly approach the visitor and stare at him, with an audio explanation of how these birds became extinct in the islands of Mauritius during the 17th century due to the intense hunting of European sailors.

In another scene, a group of quagga horses from South Africa, which combine the characteristics of a zebra and a horse, was also widely hunted for their skins and meat, before they became extinct in 1880. An enhanced copy of a marine animal skull appears from the front placed behind the original, and little by little the visitor watches Recreating the body of an eight-meter-long Stellar sea cow as if it were flesh and blood.

This species, close to the manatee, is rapidly becoming extinct.

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