Extinct Imperial Woodpecker recreated with 3D model
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Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and partner institutions built a detailed, animated three-dimensional model of the extinct Imperial Woodpecker, a large bird once found in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains of Mexico.
The team began by photographing a female specimen held at the Moore Laboratory of Zoology in Los Angeles, using photogrammetry to create a precise digital form.
They then modelled individual feathers, referencing the Pileated Woodpecker, a similar North American species, to fill in gaps in the museum specimen. The researchers used open-source software to create a digital skeleton and animate the model, grounding the movements in the only known film footage of living Imperial Woodpeckers from 1956 and comparative video of living woodpeckers. This resulted in animations of the bird in flight and while drumming on a tree.
The digital model is freely available for scientists, educators, and the public. Researchers can use it for further study, while the project also aims to raise awareness about extinction and potentially aid in the design of bird-inspired robots.
The team acknowledges the model is based on a single specimen and relies on estimations for some characteristics, but they hope to expand the reconstruction with additional museum specimens in the future, and to make the model accessible to communities in the bird’s native range.
