A Mammoth Undertaking

Bringing back an animal from the dead may sound like the plot of a movie thriller. But in September, a team of scientists and entrepreneurs announced that they’ve started a new company to do just that, beginning with the woolly mammoth, which went extinct 4,000 years ago.

The Dallas-based company, Colossal, aims to place thousands of the gigantic elephant-like beasts back on the Siberian tundra where they once roamed. The scientists will edit the DNA of modern Asian elephants, adding genes for mammoth traits such as the distinctive high-domed skull and the dense hair and thick fat that helped the creatures withstand extreme cold.

The scientists don’t plan on giving the new species tusks, however, to prevent it from being targeted by poachers.

Colossal’s researchers hope to produce embryos of these mammoth-like elephants in a few years, with the ultimate plan of creating entire populations of “mammophants” similar in size to the extinct species. The company recently received $75 million in private funding, taking the scientists a big step closer to their goal.

“This is a major milestone for us,” says George Church, a biologist at Harvard Medical School, who for eight years has been leading a small team of researchers developing the tools for reviving mammoths. “It’s going to make all the difference in the world.”

Some scientists doubt that Colossal will succeed. And even if the company manages to produce baby mammoth-like creatures, it will face serious ethical questions: Is it humane to try to reproduce an animal whose biology we know so little about? Who gets to decide whether they can be set loose, with the potential to change the ecosystems they would inhabit? Will they have the tools to thrive as they once did?

“If they succeed, what will the needs be of an intelligent social creature?” asks Victoria Herridge, a paleontologist at the United Kingdom’s Natural History Museum who studies Asian elephants. “And what are our obligations to it?”

Bringing back an animal from the dead may sound like the plot of a thriller movie. But in September, a team of scientists and entrepreneurs said that they’ve started a new company to do just that. They plan to begin with the woolly mammoth, which went extinct 4,000 years ago.

The Dallas-based company is named Colossal. It aims to put thousands of the gigantic elephant-like beasts back on the Siberian tundra where they once roamed. The scientists will start with the DNA of modern Asian elephants. They’ll add genes for mammoth traits, including the unique high-domed skull and the dense hair and thick fat that helped the creatures endure extreme cold.

The scientists don’t plan to give the new species tusks. It’s a choice they’re making to prevent poachers from targeting the animals.

Colossal’s researchers hope to produce embryos of these mammoth-like elephants in a few years. In the end, they plan to create entire populations of “mammophants” similar in size to the extinct species. The company recently received $75 million in private funding. These funds have taken the scientists a big step closer to their goal.

“This is a major milestone for us,” says George Church, a biologist at Harvard Medical School, who for eight years has been leading a small team of researchers developing the tools for reviving mammoths. “It’s going to make all the difference in the world.”

Some scientists doubt that Colossal will succeed. And even if the company manages to produce baby mammoth-like creatures, it will face serious ethical questions. Is it humane to try to reproduce an animal whose biology we know so little about? How might they change the ecosystems they would inhabit? Who gets to decide whether they can be set loose? Will they have the tools to thrive as they once did?

“If they succeed, what will the needs be of an intelligent social creature?” asks Victoria Herridge, a paleontologist at the United Kingdom’s Natural History Museum who studies Asian elephants. “And what are our obligations to it?”

This isn’t the first time in history that scientists have attempted to bring an animal back from extinction (see “It’s Alive!,” below). Doing so takes resources—a lot of money and a great deal of trial and error—and it still isn’t guaranteed to work.

Reintroducing the woolly mammoth could have environmental benefits, Church says. The resurrected animals could help turn the Siberian tundra—today dominated by moss—back to grassland. The restored grassland would keep the soil from thawing and eroding, he argues. It might even soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide, which could help prevent climate change.

Not all experts are so optimistic. Heather Browning, a philosopher at the London School of Economics, says that whatever benefits mammoths might provide to the tundra will need to be weighed against the ethics of repopulating them. One key concern is the possible suffering these new creatures might experience after being brought into existence by scientists.

This isn’t the first time in history that scientists have tried to bring an animal back from extinction (see “It’s Alive!” below). Doing so takes resources, including a lot of money and time to experiment. And still, it might not work.

Reintroducing the woolly mammoth could have environmental benefits, Church says. Today, moss fills the Siberian tundra. The resurrected animals could help turn the area back to grassland. The restored grassland would keep the soil from thawing and wasting away, he argues. It might even soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide. If it did, that could help prevent climate change.

Not all experts are so optimistic. Heather Browning, a philosopher at the London School of Economics, says that whatever benefits mammoths might provide to the tundra will need to be weighed against the ethics of repopulating them. One key concern is the possible suffering these new creatures might experience after being brought into existence by scientists.

“You don’t have a mother for a species that—if they are anything like elephants—has extraordinarily strong mother-infant bonds that last for a very long time,” Browning says. “Once there is a little mammoth or two on the ground, who is making sure that they’re being looked after?”

Other experts argue that instead of reviving an extinct species, resources should be spent on keeping living ones alive and well.

“If you have the millions of dollars it would take to resurrect a species and choose to do that, you are making an ethical decision to bring one species back and let several others go extinct,” says Joseph Bennett, a professor and conservation researcher at Carleton University in Ontario. “It would be one step forward, and three to eight steps back.”

“You don’t have a mother for a species that—if they are anything like elephants—has extraordinarily strong mother-infant bonds that last for a very long time,” Browning says. “Once there is a little mammoth or two on the ground, who is making sure that they’re being looked after?”

Other experts argue that instead of reviving an extinct species, resources should be spent on keeping living ones alive and well.

“If you have the millions of dollars it would take to resurrect a species and choose to do that, you are making an ethical decision to bring one species back and let several others go extinct,” says Joseph Bennett, a professor and conservation researcher at Carleton University in Ontario. “It would be one step forward, and three to eight steps back.”

But other scientists believe successfully resurrecting the woolly mammoth could pave the way for other scientific advances that help today’s endangered species. Beth Shapiro, a paleogeneticist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and author of How to Clone a Mammoth, says scientists may be able to use Colossal’s advances to save other species under threat by endowing them with certain genes. Some species, for example, might be enriched with genes to better tolerate heat and drought brought on by climate change.

“I worry that for lots of species today, the pace of climate change and the pace of habitat degradation is such that evolution isn’t going to be able to save them,” Shapiro says. “We need to intervene even more.”

But other scientists believe successfully resurrecting the woolly mammoth could pave the way for other scientific advances. Some of those advances might help today’s endangered species. Beth Shapiro, a paleogeneticist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and author of How to Clone a Mammoth, says scientists may be able to use Colossal’s advances to save other species under threat by giving them certain genes. For example, some species might be enriched with genes to better tolerate heat and drought brought on by climate change.

“I worry that for lots of species today, the pace of climate change and the pace of habitat degradation is such that evolution isn’t going to be able to save them,” Shapiro says. “We need to intervene even more.”

With reporting from Carl Zimmer of The New York Times.

With reporting from Carl Zimmer of The New York Times.