After the first, bombastic announcement of September 2021, the scientists of the Colossal laboratory (under the orders of that Dr George Church that we know well) also dissolves reservations about the timing. The woolly mammoth, extinct for millennia, is ready to walk the planet again in just four years after a "genetic resurrection".
The turning point came from a new $60 million financing raised a few months ago. 2027 is around the corner, say the researchers of the Dallas startup: and after the woolly mammoth, the next candidate for resurrection is the Tasmanian tiger, extinct in 1936.
Just one question: why?
Colossal's declared objective is not to bring the Mammoth back to life for the joy of zoos and theme parks (although... Oh well, we'll see), but to reintroduce it to its ancient habitat, the Arctic, to protect the ecosystem .
At this point, the question shifts from “why” to “how”. And in this regard, Church's first statements, which we reported at the time of the announcement, are authentic. The “genetically resurrected” woolly mammoth will essentially be a cold-resistant elephant (even to –40°C), but will still behave like its supposed ancestors.
“It will walk like a woolly mammoth and look like one, but more importantly it will be able to inhabit the same ecosystem previously abandoned by the mammoth's extinction,” the company explains on its website.
How the genetic resurrection of the woolly mammoth works
One detail that says it all: the woolly mammoth shares 99,6% of its DNA with the Asian elephant. Colossal plans to genetically modify its cells by hybridizing them with the DNA of a perfectly preserved woolly mammoth.
The genetic editing technique used will be the now famous one and award-winning CRISPR. Colossal will develop an elephant-mammoth hybrid embryo and transfer it into an African elephant, which is larger than the Asian elephant and will be a better surrogate for the mammoth. At that point, scientists say, once resurrected the cute Arctic pachyderm will be ready to help the environment.
I insist: how?
Mammoth ancestors used to graze, kicking up the ice and snow pack and essentially stimulating the growth of plants and trees. Without its presence, many plants have lost the ability to thrive in a freezing climate and to absorb excess CO2.
This is why Colossal goes so far as to describe the woolly mammoth as a “vital defender of the earth”.
Let's see if the game will be worth the candle: we'll find out soon, there are only four years to go.
