US biotech startup Colossal is pursuing an ambitious mission to revive the extinct woolly mammoth, which hasn’t walked the Earth for 4,000 years. The company’s plan involves creating a genetically engineered Asian elephant-mammoth hybrid and introducing it to the Arctic tundra. This groundbreaking project has attracted substantial funding and generated curiosity and scientific skepticism.
To make this plan a reality, Colossal faces numerous challenges, including crafting the animal’s genetic sequence, successfully fertilizing an egg, and ensuring the hybrid’s growth to term. However, the most significant hurdle is understanding how these animals will adapt and survive in the wild. Colossal has partnered with Elephant Havens, a wildlife foundation caring for orphaned elephants in Botswana, to address this concern.
Founded in 2017, Elephant Havens will collaborate extensively with Colossal, using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze the elephants’ behavior and integrate it with genomic data on each animal. By combining the expertise of elephant handlers with cutting-edge scientific data, the organizations hope to create a blueprint for releasing both the Asian elephants and mammoth hybrids into their respective habitats successfully.
Reintroducing elephants to the wild is complex due to their intricate social hierarchies and orphaned elephants often struggle without a family unit. Elephant Havens is working on a long-term reintroduction project, where orphans are “soft released” into a fenced site to learn survival skills without significant human intervention. By studying the behavior of elephants in this program, Colossal aims to gain insights into how to raise and reintroduce the first generation of mammoth hybrids successfully.
Colossal’s pioneering research includes AI modeling, genetic data analysis, and genome construction of the mammoth-elephant hybrid. The company is also developing an ovum pick-up (OPU) technique to extract unfertilized egg cells from elephants, a crucial step in creating hybrid embryos. With the breakthroughs achieved in this endeavor, Colossal hopes to support animal conservation efforts and make a meaningful impact on elephant conservation in the next five to ten years.
References
- Page, T. (2023, July 19). Using AI to monitor orphaned elephants in Botswana could usher in the return of the woolly mammoth. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/19/world/colossal-mammoth-elephant-botswana-ai-spc-intl-scn/index.html
