One of the more unheralded scientific advancements of the past couple decades has been our seeming mastery of genetics. Today, Colossal Biosciences announced another milestone on this journey in the form of a very furry mouse representing a tiny and cute step towards bringing back an iconic, extinct beast: the woolly mammoth.
The Colossal Woolly Mouse is a rodent with a few dashes of mammoth genes that should make them fare a little better in cold climates. Specifically, the scientists modified seven of the mice’s genes simultaneously to alter their lipid metabolism, coat color, texture and thickness, making them similar to that of the late giants.
“Our mouse models provide a resource for future research into hair development pathways and phenotype engineering insight relevant to woolly mammoth de-extinction,” concludes a research paper by the Colossal team that had not been peer reviewed.
The Colossal team is aiming to bring back the woolly mammoth by the end of this decade, sort of. The team’s plan is to genetically modify the extant and closely related Asian elephant to express woolly mammoth traits, creating a sort of hybrid of past and present pachyderms.
“The Colossal Woolly Mouse marks a watershed moment in our de-extinction mission,” Ben Lamm, Co-Founder and CEO of Colossal Biosciences said in a statement. “By engineering multiple cold-tolerant traits from mammoth evolutionary pathways into a living model species, we’ve proven our ability to recreate complex genetic combinations that took nature millions of years to create. This success brings us a step closer to our goal of bringing back the woolly mammoth.”
Living in the Weird and Woolly Mammoth Future
There was a period in my career when I used to say that my beat as a reporter was the future. We’ve now moved on enough that we’re actually living in that future that I used to write about. In some ways it has delivered, in others it has disappointed, but it seems to be notably weirder than I would have expected at almost every turn. Cuddly woolly mammoth mice certainly fits that pattern.
While I find myself marveling while also scratching my head a bit at the announcement, others were much less impressed.
“I assume you are aware the ecosystem of the mammoth is gone,” responded Sarah Frias-Torres, a biological oceanographer and marine ecologist with the Smithsonian. “You do understand species do not live in a void. They live in an ecosystem. All the resources you invest in the mammoth work will be better used to focus only on endangered species of today.”
I’ve always found this “stop spending your money on your dumb stuff and spend it on my important stuff instead” argument to be rather short-sided. Particularly in this instance where Colossal frequently makes the case – on its website and just about anywhere else it can – that its work is likely to be critical in addressing our current extinction crisis by literally giving some species a second chance.
Damien Fordham, Deputy Director of the Environment Institute at the University of Adelaide in Australia, buys that argument:
“The technology could potentially rescue living species from extinction through engineering of their phenotypes. For example, it could be used to reestablish warm tolerant traits lost in dwindling populations of species who are at risk of extinction from human-driven climate change.”
But he also acknowledges the irony that also clouded my first impressions of Colossal’s mammoth ambition: why bring back a species that seems least suited for the current trajectory of our climate?
“In addition to the immense scientific challenge that still lies ahead for the Colossal team, the threats that caused the demise of the woolly mammoth have only worsened in recent years,” said Fordham. “Therefore, it is somewhat fanciful to believe that one day we will again have self-sustaining populations of mammoths roaming Siberia.”
Scientists at Colossal and elsewhere believe that bringing back Mammoth to the tundra could restore a significant steppe ecosystem and actually help slow climate change. Others argue that humans have an ethical responsibility to bring back species whose extinction we played a role in. Such is the case with the woolly mammoth.
But the potential return of the woolly mammoth is still years away. Right now I’m wondering how hard it is to get the recipe for a woolly mouse, because I think it might just become a trending and sought-after designer pet if it leaks.
