Can Colossal's Genetically Engineered Animals Ever Be the Real Thing?

Colossal Biosciences, the Texas-based startup now valued at more than $10 billion that has attracted investments from Paris Hilton, Peter Jackson and Tom Brady, claimed earlier this year to have resurrected the dire wolf -- an animal that disappeared at the end of the last ice age -- but a group of leading canid experts concluded the company had done no such thing.

The scientists found that Colossal had made 20 edits to the DNA of grey wolves and the resulting animals did not substantially differ from wolves currently roaming North America. Beth Shapiro, Colossal's own chief scientist, acknowledged to New Scientist: 'It's not possible to bring something back that is identical to a species that used to be alive. Our animals are grey wolves with 20 edits that are cloned.'

Nic Rawlence, director of the palaeogenetics laboratory at the University of Otago in New Zealand, added: 'Rather than true de-extinction, Colossal's attempts are genetically engineered poor copies at best, passed off as the real deal.'

The company has nevertheless pressed forward. It has launched projects to revive the Tasmanian tiger, the dodo, and the moa and plans to unveil its interpretation of the woolly mammoth -- a genetically modified Asian elephant adapted to survive at -40C -- in the coming years. The Trump administration cited the dire wolf announcement while making efforts to cut the US endangered species list, calling de-extinction technology a potential 'bedrock for modern species conservation.'

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