Although the wooly mammoth is something out of the Natural History Museum, an American biotechnology company is currently attempting to de-extinct animals once thought lost to time. Colossal Biosciences Inc. has recently made progress in its attempts to revive extinct animals for conservation purposes.
Colossal, based in Dallas, Texas, was founded in 2021 by American investor Ben Lamm, who also serves as the company CEO, and American scientist George Church. In early October 2024, Colossal announced that they had sequenced 99.9 percent of the Thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger, genome, which is the complete set of genes or genetic material present in a cell or organism.
As of 2025, Colossal is targeting three specific animals for de-extinction, the wooly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), dodo bird (Raphus cucullatus) and Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus). Lamm says the company plans to birth its first wooly mammoth calf by 2028. They are currently in the “editing stage,” meaning they are still in the process of copying and pasting specific genes into donor animal embryos. Colossal plans to release these animals back into their natural habitat, hoping they fill an ecosystemic rift caused by their absence. Re-introducing an animal, such as the wooly mammoth, back into the tundras of Europe, Asia, and North America could help restore environments currently under threat by human development and deforestation.
TWG Global currently values Colossal at $10.2 billion, stating that they have received $435 million in recent funding rounds. They currently use Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) technology to copy and paste extinct animal traits into a donor animal embryo. CRISPR can cut a DNA sequence at a specific genetic location and insert a new sequence, which can change a single base pair of DNA and/or large pieces of chromosomes. For example, Colossal scientists can place wooly mammoth genes that cause dense hair growth and ears resilient to the cold into an Asian elephant (the wooly mammoth’s closest living relative) embryo, creating an animal genetically accurate to the wooly mammoth.
Anand Patel, a Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences Upper School biology teacher, believes that gene editing technology should be used in an environmentally conscious way. In Patel’s class, students often discuss and learn about environmental issues such as biodiversity loss and conservation. Patel believes that gene-editing technology, specifically the development of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) for food purposes, has great potential for human health. “Genetically modified organisms have helped our nutritive needs in a big way,” Patel stated. Because of this, humans are able to maximize nutrition derived from food in smaller portions, which could have positive benefits for overall health and wellness. Patel thinks that bringing back extinct animals via CRISPR technology requires careful consideration and thought. “Woolly mammoths existed during the Ice Age, and we came out of the Ice Age 12,000 years ago,” Patel said. “The landscape of the planet has significantly shifted [since then],” he added. Patel also raises the question, “We should always ask [ourselves], just because we can do it should we do it?” For Patel, bringing back extinct species poses not just a scientific but moral question as well.
