Biotech company Colossal, which is attempting to bring back the woolly mammoth, has reached a milestone − and a very cute one at that: the woolly mouse.
The Colossal Woolly Mouse, born in October 2024, was genetically engineered to have characteristics that could eventually be used in creating a next-generation woolly mammoth embryo to be born by a female elephant. The goal of Colossal’s biotech and genetic engineering teams is to recreate a mammoth capable of surviving in the Arctic and helping restore the region’s ecosystem.
“But testing that hypothesis on an elephant isn’t possible because elephants have a 22-month gestation period, so it would take a really long time, and it’s also not particularly ethical,” Beth Shapiro, chief science officer at Colossal, told USA TODAY.
Enter the mouse, which has been a laboratory mainstay for more than a century. Mice and humans share about 80% of the same genes, according to the Understanding Animal Research website, and laboratory mice are also good scientific subjects because of their short lifespan (about 2 years) and gestation period (19-21 days).
Scientists at Colossal analyzed research linked to mice and cross-referenced specific genes with those found in mammoth DNA. They found seven genes, which were modified in the laboratory mice, to achieve mice with “dramatically altered coat color, texture, and thickness reminiscent of the woolly mammoth’s core phenotypes” or characteristics, the company said in a press release.
“What we found is in 23 days, versus 22 months, it worked,” Ben Lamm, co-founder and CEO of Colossal, told USA TODAY. “This is a very, very big step for us because it proves that all of the work we’ve been doing for the last three years on the woolly mammoth is exactly what we predicted.”
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‘Much cuter than we thought’
The genetically engineered mice had curled whiskers with wavy, lighter-colored hair that may grow as much as three times longer, and have a rough, woolly texture. The mice also may look more full-bodied because another altered gene leads to changes in body weight in mammoths.
An unintended consequence? “They are much cuter than we thought they would be,” Lamm said. “We’ve been asked, ‘are you going to sell them? Are you going to breed them?’ And the answers are no. … I am happy to report they are all very very healthy.”
The next step: Seeing if the mice can handle cold better than standard mice. If so, those genes would be proven helpful in the woolly mammoth’s return. Colossal is consulting with its ethics board and will follow The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee protocols in future tests, Lamm said.
Scientists are interested, he said, in whether “they behave better under cold tolerant temperatures? Are they faster, Are they slower? How does that change? Do they put on weight and fat?”
Where did Colossal get mammoth DNA?
Lamm, a technology and software entrepreneur, and George Church, a biologist at Harvard Medical School, founded Colossal Laboratories & Biosciences in 2021 to “rapidly advance the field of species de-extinction,” the company said at the time.
The return of mammoths could revitalize Arctic grasslands, which could have “major climate change-combatting properties including carbon sequestering, methane suppression and light reflection,” the company said.
Colossal scientists have done a computational analysis of the ancient genetic makeup of 59 woolly, Columbian, and steppe mammoths, ranging from 3,500 to over 1,200,000 years old. That work helped identify crucial genetic targets for creating a next-generation woolly mammoth – actually a “cold-resistant elephant with all of the core biological traits of the woolly mammoth,” the company says on its website.
“It will walk like a woolly mammoth, look like one, sound like one, but most importantly it will be able to inhabit the same ecosystem previously abandoned by the Mammoth’s extinction,” Colossal says.
Colossal has said it hopes to have its first woolly mammoth calves by 2028.
Bringing back the woolly mammoth. Is it worth it?
The goal of de-extinction is not without its critics. “We need to think about the harm that could occur as well: the suffering of elephant egg donors and surrogate mothers and cloned mammoths with anatomical defects,” wrote Emma Marris, an author who writes about science, and Yasha Rohwer, assistant professor of philosophy at the Oregon Institute of Technology, on the Center for Humans and Nature website.
“Also we must consider the sufferings of the first mammoth, who, as a social animal, will most likely be pained to live in a world without other mammoths,” they wrote.
A healthy animal is not 100% guaranteed, agrees Christopher Preston, a professor of environmental philosophy at the University of Montana and author of “Tenacious Beasts: Wildlife Recoveries that Change How We Think about Animals.”
Beyond that, the resulting animal will not truly be a woolly mammoth. “So what we are going to bring back is an adapted relative, so an Asian elephant, basically, that has more hair or cold tolerance genes or something like that,” Preston told USA TODAY.
“I really think highly of the scientists,” he said. “They are good people doing good work, but I think the story just needs to be a little less sensational and they need to be a little more upfront about what they are actually doing.”
Colossal also working to bring back Tasmanian tigers, dodos
Back in October 2024, Colossal said it had assembled the most complete Tasmanian tiger genome, a major step toward bringing back the Australian thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) from extinction. The team hopes to eventually reestablish the Tasmanian tiger on the island of Tasmania off the southeast tip of Australia.
Colossal is also making progress on another project, announced in 2023, to bring back the dodo. The company’s Avian Genomics Group is close to achieving primordial germ cells in pigeons, which would allow genetic testing of dodo characteristics in pigeons – similar to the mouse-mammoth experiments.
The ability to provide “genetic rescue” to birds, could eventually allow for genetic engineering of bird flu-resistant chickens and other birds, Shapiro said.
While Colossal is focused on the “de-extinction” of species, its research breakthroughs could help secure biodiversity, she said. “We as a society should really be thinking about increasing the tools we have at our disposal to help species survive whatever is going to happen in their habitats,” Shapiro said.
Contributing: Eric Lagatta and Marina Pitofsky
Follow Mike Snider on Threads, Bluesky and X:mikegsnider & @mikegsnider.bsky.social & @mikesnider.
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