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Woolly mammoth de-extinction scientists have created woolly mice

By T.K. Randall
March 4, 2025 · Comment icon 23 comments
Woolly mice
Woolly mice. Image Credit: Colossal Biosciences
Scientists aiming to bring back the woolly mammoth have modified mice to make them more resistant to the cold.
De-extinction might seem like science fiction right now, but over the next few years we could see the first ever extinct animal (such as a thylacine, mammoth or dodo) being brought back to life.

Several firms around the world are currently working on the problem and one of these is Colossal Biosciences - a biotechnology company that aims to achieve de-extinction as soon as 2028.

The firm seems to be making some interesting progress - as evidenced this week by the news that its scientists have succeeded in creating something that puts us one step closer to de-extincting the woolly mammoth: the creation of woolly mice.

The reason for doing this is to validate methods of comparing the genomes of mammoths with today's elephants and finding a way to genome-edit the cells of the latter.

To this end, the team has been able to edit the genes of mice to give them a woolly coat reminiscent of those found on mammoths - a key adaptation for improving resilience to cold temperatures.
To achieve this, they modified nine genes related to hair length, color and thickness.

But while the work is certainly impressive on a technical level, some argue that the money and effort would be better spent on trying to prevent existing species from becoming extinct in the first place.

There's also the problem that doing something like this in elephants will be much more difficult.

"Engineering a mammoth-like elephant presents a far greater challenge: the actual number of genes likely to be involved is far higher, the genes are less well understood - and still need to be identified," said Dr Tori Herridge of the University of Sheffield.

"And the surrogate will be an animal that is not normally experimented upon."

Source: The Guardian | Comments (23)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #14 Posted by psyche101 15 days ago
Go hard. Play god. That's awesome. This is why we do science. Put it into practice and lets see what we can do.    Hoverboards next I would hope. 
Comment icon #15 Posted by Unusual Tournament 14 days ago
Never thought of selling experimental extinct animals as pets. The company has a private valuation of 10billion dollars. Ridiculous but I guess creating a Jurassic style park or selling modified animals as pets using CRISPR has money in it. 
Comment icon #16 Posted by Unusual Tournament 14 days ago
If they can experiment on animals then they’re a step closer (some might say too close) to experiment on humans. 
Comment icon #17 Posted by Dan Homestead 14 days ago
'Several firms around the world are currently working on the problem' What problem? Climate change is a problem, world hunger is a problem. Stop this bull****. Extinct is extinct, habitats have adjusted, let it be. Stop acting god. But no, these *******s want to do these things just because they can. Playing with life. As if animals have no consciousness, no feeling, especially elephants/mammoths. Why is there no (moral) regulation? We really treat animals like products. Animals deserve to be born naturally, with the care of it's mother at least. They would probably put these mammoths in cages... [More]
Comment icon #18 Posted by OverSword 14 days ago
The mice are not extinct, just adorable.
Comment icon #19 Posted by Tom1200 14 days ago
I read somewhere an argument that massive animals trampling the tundra will restore a natural balance and stop the permafrost thawing.  I'll confess right away I didn't study the theory beyond picking holes in it.  Critically: does anyone seriously think these newly introduced mammoths won't be slaughtered for their ivory?  Either they'll be free to wander the plains... and be wiped out; or they'll be constrained to parks and rendered ineffective. What about the trillions of animals given lives and existence because humans value them or their by-products?  Is nobody sad at the thought of a... [More]
Comment icon #20 Posted by HandsomeGorilla 14 days ago
I'm not impressed until I see little tusks.
Comment icon #21 Posted by psyche101 14 days ago
Sounds awesome. I want wings. Redbull commercials are BS.
Comment icon #22 Posted by psyche101 14 days ago
    Why do some people get upset with science? What are you scared of? 
Comment icon #23 Posted by kingsway 13 days ago
faker then fake  


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