Another thing they could do is use Hawaii's title as extinction capital of the world.
There are a lot of recent extinctions geologically speaking as well. Extinct bird species like the stilt owls, giant ducks, or even elephant birds if we're going for a general island theme could come from that.
They could even pull something like reviving a recently, as in only a few years, extinct species that the protag somehow stumbles upon the remains of like a honey creeper/ Oricorio form.
Just see a bird singing by itself on a branch, have a storm blow in. Afterward, in the devastated forest find a bone and boom fossil revival. Kinda how like these went extinct and they're hoping to clone them back to life in the future.
https://youtu.be/vGqT3alAtj8 