Scientists Are Bringing Back The Wooly Mammoth To Help Manage Climate Change

The company, Colossal, is using gene editing technology “CRISPR” to reincarnate the megafauna of the past.

We’ve all seen Jurassic Park, and just barely past a world shuddering pandemic, we’re close to experiencing that for real. In a whole new world of technological advances, Crispr, is one that might have taken some extra steps for mankind. This revolutionary gene editing technology has experts on track to bring back the Wooly Mammoth by 2027.

Colossal’s co-founders are Chief Executive Ben Lamm, and George Church, a Harvard Professor with a strong expertise on crispr. The company has offices in Boston, Dallas, and Austin. With its’ primary office based out of the Dallas location; only having around 20 employees, this group of experts are changing life as we know it.

To start off their companies’ mission of de-extinction, they are beginning with the Wooly Mammoth. They use DNA found in previous research ventures, and replace any missing links in the chain with that of the Asian elephants, allowing them to be the surrogate. Interestingly enough, scientists will then transfer the embryo from the Asian elephant to an African elephant. The reason for this, is that the African elephants are larger than the Asian elephants, making it easier for them to give birth to a hybrid species.

So, how are they going to stop climate change?

When mammoths once roamed the vast tundras of the arctic, they would graze on different plants and trees of the grassland. As they were roaming, they would also help to disrupt the snowpack, allowing the plants to grow.

Since their extinction, there hasn’t been anything to disrupt the ice-pack, and plants lost their ability to survive. A once flourishing ecosystem of grasslands that could absorb the carbon had been lost. But, with the reintroduction of the Wooly Mammoth; they could bring back the balance to the arctic grasslands by allowing the growth of these plants, and restoring a surface of snow that reflects the sun’s radiation.

Could this really be a solution? Although we are unsure at this point, you can’t help but to be mesmerized by the advances science is making. Colossal also has plans to bring back other extinct species such as the Thylacine, a type of wolf-marsupial. I believe I heard talks of the Saber-Toothed tiger, and the American Lion on a podcast as well. With these breakthrough discoveries to heal the planet, it’s almost poetic..

In order to restore the damage that humanity has dealt, we have to re-introduce the original inhabitants of this earth.

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Source: https://colossal.com/mammoth/

Source: https://www.wired.com/story/thylacine-mammoth-de-extinction-colossal/