The fiction presented by Steven Spielberg’s film, “Jurassic Park”, becomes reality, as a group of geneticists want to resurrect a prehistoric animal.
Colossal, the bioscience and genetics company, seeks to develop genetic engineering technologies for create a hybrid between the mammoth and the Asian elephantgetting as close as possible to the mammoths that once inhabited our planet.
The main objective of the project is recreate the Ice Age giant in less than 6 years, in what would currently be a type of elephant. And among the main investors in the project are the Winklevoss brothers, known for disputing the authorship of Facebook against Mark Zuckerber in 2004.
Woolly mammoth, the goal of recreating the species
The woolly mammoth became extinct mostly in the last 10,000 years. And the remaining specimens were recorded until about 4,000 years ago. In this sense, a team of scientists and businessmen are working to revive the extinct species through genetic methods, with the aim of being able to introduce thousands of mammoths to Siberia within four years.
How is the project?
The project will be carried out through the use of genetic engineering, editing the DNA of an elephant and adding characteristic genes of the woolly mammoth. The proposal is based on:
- Editing the elephant’s DNA by adding the genes responsible for mammoth characteristics, such as bushy hair and a broad layer of fat to withstand the cold.
- The starting point of the work is the genetic material of frozen remains of this species.
In addition, they assured that after this investigation they will try to resurrect the Tasmanian tiger, a wolf-like marsupial that became extinct due to excessive hunting at the beginning of the 20th century.
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There are those who oppose the idea, citing ethical issues in rescuing giant animals from extinction. There is also concern about the unpredictability of knowing how these mammoths would behave on Earth today.
What will the mammoth be like?
Genetically, the mammoth is very similar to the Asian elephant. “The Asian elephant is an endangered species. That’s why we want to preserve it.” said George Church, project leader
colossal will not seek to clone the mammoth (since the DNA they got from the frozen remains is fragmented and degraded), but to create an Asian elephant with characteristics similar to the mamut, genetically modified as a hybrid, so that it can withstand freezing temperatures.
The idea is that mammoths become part of a long-term plan to restore the polar zone to its prehistoric state of grasses, instead of trees, thus combating the climate crisis.
Source: Scope
