When people first arrived on Easter Island in 800 AD, Rapa Nui palm trees once covered the island. The palm forests were home to many island species that went extinct before being formally named and documented. Several land birds, lizards, and sea mammals have joined the palm tree in extinction. Today there are 10 insect species that are being saved from the same fate. Easter Island got its name from Dutch captain, Jacob Roggeveen, who was the first European to discover the island. He named it Easter Island because he landed there on Easter Sunday 1722. When James Cook visited the island in 1774, just 52 years later the Rapa Nui culture had collapsed, with its people starving and many of the giant moai having been toppled. Because Cook was unwell during his visit to Easter Island, he never investigated the cause of the destruction on Easter Island. At the height of the culture, Easter Island’s population may have reached 17,500. After an apparent civil war and extended drought, there were only 300 men and 30 women on the island when Cook arrived. Easter Island has always been shrouded in mystery. In fact 100,000 tourists a year flock to the Island to see the massive rock figures called moai. To date, 1,043 completed moai statues have been found on the island. It is thought that the Rapa Nui’s obsession with building the massive moai statues led to the ecological collapse of the island. It is thought that the environmental destruction is what led to the demise of the Rapa Nui culture. At the height of the culture, Easter Island’s population may have reached 17,500. There are many theories about how the moai were moved including the use of the Rapa Nui palm trees being used as rollers to move the massive statues. According to the pollen record, the last Easter Island palms died off around 1650, leaving Easter Island a desolate grassland. That was a far cry from the palm tree forest ecosystem it once was long ago. Although Jurassic Park is fiction, scientists are working on several de-extinction projects. In fact, in 2003 scientists did bring back the extinct Pyrenean ibex, a type of wild goat, for 7 minutes before it died, showing de-extinction is possible. Although some endocarps, shells from coconuts and pollen have been discovered, the lack of soft tissue makes getting DNA impossible for this species. If the Rapa Nui palm was brought back, would it still be able to thrive on Easter Island once again?