From woolly mice to woolly mammoths

From woolly mice to woolly mammoths - 31st March 2025

The woolly mammoth may be about to make a reappearance thanks to a US biosciences firm, Colossal Biosciences. It hopes to bring the creature back from its extinction 4,000 years ago.

The US company is utilising sophisticated processes which involve genetic editing. The frozen remains of mammoths, revealed as climate change causes ice sheets to melt, have provided quality genetic material. Comparing this with the DNA of the Asian elephant to identify key differences has highlighted, for example, which genes control characteristics like the mammoth's woolly coat.

The long pregnancy periods in elephants pose challenges for experimentation, so scientists have substituted elephants for mice. They've managed to bring about obvious mammoth-like changes in these tiny creatures, such as fur which is longer or more golden.

For Colossal Biosciences CEO Ben Lamm, this is a major step forward. He said, "We are on track to have the first cold-adapted elephant by 2028". He believes such projects to reintroduce extinct animals are vital to guard the planet's biodiversity and to "reawaken the lost wilds of Earth".

While Colossal's intention is clear, other experts in the scientific community are critical, for scientific, moral and practical reasons. Dr Tori Herridge, Senior Lecturer of Biosciences at the University of Sheffield wrote on Science Media Centre that although it's described as a "woolly mammoth de-extinction", in reality it's "an experiment to test the effect of gene edits on the appearance of elephants."

On the same site, Dr Saad Arif from Oxford Brookes University commented on the moral dilemma. To recreate a mammoth, a surrogate elephant mother is used, which is a distinct species. Dr Louise Johnson, from the University of Reading, said the return of an extinct species was a "false hope". For Colossal, however, their objective is now in sight.