In a story that sounds straight out of science fiction, Colossal Biosciences is leading a bold effort to bring the wooly mamoth back to life. A species that has not roamed our planet in over 4, 000 years could be on the verge of a miraculous comeback to serve a purpose you would not expect. To combat climate change.
Evolution has always been a critical fact of life. It is the very reason we humans exist today, in the form we exist in today. As part of the evolutionary process, species go extinct due to evolutionary pressures and/or external pressures. This is the definition of survival of the fittest. The woolly mammoth’s extinction is thought to have been caused by a combination of both climate change and human activity. As the Earth came out of an ice age, temperatures started to increase which caused the mammoth steppe, – a vast, cold, dry grassland to shrink dramatically. This landscape was replaced with forests and wetlands which reduced the mammoths habitat and food supply. In addition to this, humans started to migrate into mammoth territory and began hunting this animal which drastically increased the rate of decline in the population, up until the point of extinction.
Bringing animals back from extinction has always captivated human imagination. Films and TV shows like Jurassic Park have blended the thrill of scientific discovery with the awe of encountering lost worlds and creatures. It is in human nature to be curious and to me there is no greater curiosity than blending technology with life to re-discover our planets’ past. We study human history to learn from the past, shape our future and hopefully prevent similar mistakes from happening again. Why is this not true for nature? If needed, why can’t our past be our future? Whilst bringing organisms back from extinction raises questions over our role in nature, the ethics of playing god as well as safety and ecological concerns, it also showcases human innovation. De-extinction is truly the frontier of science fiction becoming a reality and is a super exciting prospect, if not a little scary. Leading this charge are an American company called Colossal Biosciences.
Founded in 2021 by the Harvard geneticist George Church and entrepreneur Ben Lamm, Colossal Biosciences have recently gained global fame when they successfully engineered multiple cold-tolerant traits from woolly mammoths into mice. Pictures shared online show these mice to have “woolly mammoth hair” marking a significant milestone in their attempt to bring the woolly mammoth back from extinction. They are using CRISPR gene technology in combination with AI and synthetic biology to artificially combine genetic traits from woolly mammoths into their closest living relative: the asian elephant. The end goal: produce a cold-resistant elephant-mammoth hybrid which can re-populate the arctic tundra in an attempt to combat climate change. Sounds crazy and far-fetched? I would agree, but the company claim they will have a viable elephant-mammoth hybrid by as early as 2028. As their website states: “We have the DNA, the technology and the leading experts in the field. Next, we will have the woolly mammoth. Alive again”.
Many of you are probably wondering how a woolly mammoth roaming the artic circle will combat climate change. To understand that, you have to understand how the mammoth’s habitat has changed since the last ice age. The tundra and much of the taiga – the sometimes swampy coniferous forest of high northern latitudes – were once a grassland ecosystem known as the “mammoth steppe”. It was home to large herds of grazing animals, many of which have dwindled massively in numbers. The absence of these grazing herds has led to the previous grasslands being dominated by shrubs and even woodland. Without large animals to remove thick insulating layers of snow, the extreme winter temperatures are not penetrating the soil. In combination with global warming, the melting of permafrost is accelerating at an alarming rate. Within the permafrost are vast amounts of greenhouses gases which get released into the atmosphere as the ice melts, leading to further global warming via a positive feedback loop. From a global carbon perspective, the carbon released from the melting of the world’s permafrost is equivalent to burning all the world’s forests 2 ½ times. Research has shown that the re-introduction of herds of grazing animals could return the tundra and taiga to a grassland and reduce the rate of the permafrost melt which in turn positively combats climate change. Next question: will this actually work?
Tucked away in a corner of Siberia is a place called Pleistocene Park where re-wilding experiments have been taking place for a number of years. On this 160 square kilometer reserve, Sergey Zimov and his son Nikita are leading the charge to restore the lost mammoth steppe. This park contains hundreds of animals from 8 major herbivore species and they hope one day woolly mammoths can be re-introduced. The park has published numerous papers on their living science experiment and importantly highlight that ecological engineering could actually be a successful climate solution. The replacement of forests with grasslands has been shown to reduce the albedo effect, transfer water from the soil into the atmosphere, further lowering ground temperatures and decrease waterlogging. Additionally, grass roots store carbon better than the shrubs and trees they will replace. The park have used tractors and other machinery to simulate the tread and destructive force of mammoths, which further demonstrated how their re-introduction will promote the re-wilding. Altogether, the effects of a restored grassland tended to by megaherbivores “implies an enhanced protection of the carbon-rich permafrost” which in turn has a positive impact on climate change. Maybe the re-introduction of the woolly mammoth will positively benefit climate change.
Colossal Bioscience don’t just hope to start the process of species de-extinction, their research is also advancing developments in science such as artificial wombs and multi-genome complexing. An artificial womb would provide the means to grow healthy embryos outside of a natural womb, making it possible to breed endangered species and re-introduce them into the wild without the need of a surrogate or artificial breeding programs. Maybe one day this technology might even be bio-compatible with humans. The company is also showcasing how AI and multiplex genome editing can be harnessed to alter an organisms genetic makeup to selectively change complex physical traits. The Colossal woolly mouse is evidence of how this powerful system can be used to test hypotheses about the link between specific DNA sequences and appearance. As Dr. Beth Shapiro, Chief Science Officer at Colossal said, “the Colossal Woolly Mouse showcases our ability to use the latest genome editing tools and approaches to drive predictable phenotypes. It is an important step toward validating our approach to resurrecting traits that have been lost to extinction and that our goal is to restore.”
Films and TV shows about bringing animals back from extinction have captivated human imagination by blending the thrill of scientific discovery with the awe of encountering lost worlds. From the cinematic spectacle of Jurassic Park to documentaries like Genesis 2.0, these stories tap into deep-rooted curiosity about our planet’s past and what might be possible in the future. They spark questions about our role in nature, the ethics of playing god, and the how this might impact the fragile balance of ecosystems. Whether driven by hope, fear, or wonder, Colossal Biosciences are spearheading the way to making the insanely science fiction idea of de-extinction a reality to hopefully bring about positive change in our world. The consequences of resurrecting the extinct are both exciting and terrifying, and it feels like we will have answers soon.
