On a quest to revive the woolly mammoth, scientists have created a woolly mouse. Is the first step towards resurrecting extinct species? You can read the profile on TechCrunch to find out. Of course they just used a small quote of mine; if you want to know the full response I gave the reporter, I’ve reprinted it below:
“This is a very exciting step towards bringing back the woolly mammoth, though it may not help us bring back any other prehistoric species. The woolly mammoth is unusual because it is very closely related to the living Indian elephant. This means scientists can potentially modify the genetic code of an Indian elephant so that it has the same mutations seen in ancient woolly mammoth DNA. At Colossal Biosciences, they were able to produce multiple mutations in mice that mimic the changes they would need to make in an Indian elephant. That is not easy to do, and it is exciting to see the mice produce a mammoth-like coat. But there are hundreds of differences between the DNA of an Indian elephant and a mammoth, so there is a long way to go. Unfortunately, most prehistoric species don’t have such a close relative that could be used as a “template” for de-extinction efforts.”