TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Bioscience firm claims will bring back extinct woolly mammoth

New company Colossal, capitalizing on a partnership with a Harvard geneticist, said its species "de-extinction" effort has the potential to anchor a working model for restoring damaged or lost ecosystems and thereby help slow or even halt the effects of climate change.

News Desk (AFP)
Premium
Washington, United States
Tue, September 14, 2021

Share This Article

Change Size

 Bioscience firm claims will bring back extinct woolly mammoth A man climbs a bronze sculpture of a mammoth in the western Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk on March 24, 2010. Chinese customs authorities said they seized 156 prehistoric mammoth tusks from a truck entering from Russia in one of the country's largest such hauls. (AFP/Natalia Kolesnikova)

I

t is the elephant in the genomics room: can extinct species be resurrected? One bioscience firm insists they can, announcing Monday its intent to use emerging technology to restore the woolly mammoth to the Arctic tundra.

New company Colossal, capitalizing on a partnership with a Harvard geneticist, said its species "de-extinction" effort has the potential to anchor a working model for restoring damaged or lost ecosystems and thereby help slow or even halt the effects of climate change.

"Never before has humanity been able to harness the power of this technology to rebuild ecosystems, heal our Earth and preserve its future through the repopulation of extinct animals," Colossal chief executive and co-founder Ben Lamm, an emerging technology entrepreneur, said in a statement.

"In addition to bringing back ancient extinct species like the woolly mammoth, we will be able to leverage our technologies to help preserve critically endangered species that are on the verge of extinction and restore animals where humankind had a hand in their demise."

Woolly mammoths roamed much of the Arctic, and co-existed with early humans who hunted the cold-resistent herbivores for food and used its tusks and bones as tools.

The animals died out about 4,000 years ago. For decades, scientists have been recovering bits and pieces of mammoth tusks, bones, teeth and hair to extract and try to sequence the mammoth's DNA.

Colossal says it aims to insert DNA sequences of woolly mammoths, collected from well-preserved remains in the permafrost and frozen steppes, into the genome of Asian elephants, to create an "elephant-mammoth hybrid."

to Read Full Story

  • Unlimited access to our web and app content
  • e-Post daily digital newspaper
  • No advertisements, no interruptions
  • Privileged access to our events and programs
  • Subscription to our newsletters
or

Purchase access to this article for

We accept

TJP - Visa
TJP - Mastercard
TJP - GoPay

Redirecting you to payment page

Pay per article

Bioscience firm claims will bring back extinct woolly mammoth

Rp 29,000 / article

1
Create your free account
By proceeding, you consent to the revised Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.
Already have an account?

2
  • Palmerat Barat No. 142-143
  • Central Jakarta
  • DKI Jakarta
  • Indonesia
  • 10270
  • +6283816779933
2
Total Rp 29,000
{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.