Bringing Extinct Animals Back to Life: How Cloning and De-Extinction Startups Are Making History by Reviving Extinct Mammoths, Tigers and Wolves

A recent successful cloning of the Arctic wolf comes nearly 27 years after the famed sheep Dolly was the first cloned animal. 

Chinese firm Sinogene Pet Cloning Biotechnology used skin cells from a captive Arctic wolf and embryos from female dogs. Scientists placed the embryos into seven beagle surrogate mothers and were able to successfully clone the Arctic wolf named Maya. 

The species is not currently endangered but might come under future pressure in a changing climate. The research gained from cloning will also provide data to boost the company’s efforts with extinct animals and to other firms trying to achieve the same goals. 

The company entered a partnership with Beijing Wildlife Park to improve the breeding of rare and endangered animals and to expand the scope of resource protection. 

Sinogene and other firms also offer pet cloning services, which can create genetically identical cats, dogs and horses through a lengthy process of cell separation, culturing, embryo growth and surrogacy. Other startups such as Embryll use cloning and cell therapy to revitalize older dogs. The company transplants cells from younger dogs into older dogs, giving them an extended lifespan and higher vitality. 

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Cloning And Conservation

In a move that sounds like a scene from “Jurassic Park,” several startups are trying to resurrect extinct species, both those recently vanished and some more than 10,000 years old. 

Austin, Texas-based Colossal Biosciences is working to clone the infamous flightless dodo bird. Extinct in the mid-1600s the dodo bird is one of several species the company is considering for de-extinction. Researchers use 500-year-old dodo remains kept at a Denmark museum as the genetic basis for their work. It is also using genome engineering to attempt to turn present-day elephants into wooly mammoths and bring back the Tasmanian tiger. 

Firms working on de-extinction frequently point to the potential benefit of reintroducing these animals. For example, Colossal Biosciences and other firms exploring wooly mammoths note the animals could benefit the Arctic tundra by exposing carbon-capturing plants and bringing the landscape back to its former climate-benefiting state. Resurrecting the thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger), the area’s former alpha predator might rebalance Tasmania by reducing the number of herbivores. 

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The company recently raised $150 million through various investors and Winklevoss Capital Management, media personality Paris Hilton and noted public speaker and author Tony Robbins are all noted backers of the firm. It also received investment from the CIA’s investment arm, a move that underscores the government’s interest in cloning and genetic engineering. Colossal Biosciences uses the CRISPR gene editing method, which allows researchers to remove unwanted genes and build a more robust sequence that can reject bacteria and other threats. 

Bringing back extinct animals is still hypothetical because of numerous technological roadblocks and concerns about ethical implications and potential unintended consequences. For ancient animals, one complication is older DNA samples fragment with exposure to light or bacteria. Recreating broken fragments of DNA is difficult and requires researchers to piece together strands in a way that might not fully replicate the original animal. 

Colossal Biosciences’ status as the first de-extinction company marks a new point in innovation for the sector. Its technology has applications beyond resurrecting extinct animals, including in healthcare for humans, developing new biofuels and potentially aiding vaccine development. 

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