A Texas Company Is Working To “De-Extinct” The Wooly Mammoth

The Wooly Mammoth has not roamed any part of the earth for 4,000 years, yet they may soon live again in Texas. I think I've seen a movie (or seven) with this same premise.

A Texas company, Colossal Biosciences is seeking to bring the animal back into existence by the year 2028, according to iflscience. That's a measly five years between us and reliving the past in a mammoth way.

If you are wondering- what's the point? This is Colossal Biosciences answer, per their website:

 To advance the economies of biology and healing through genetics. To make humanity more human. And to reawaken the lost wilds of Earth. So we, and our planet, can breathe easier.

There's also the whole "it'll be cool to see a Wooly Mammoth" thing. Honestly, I'm into it. In case you were wondering, yes, Wooly Mammoths did once roam the land we now call Texas.

Company founder Ben Lamm went into further detail in an interview with iflscience, saying that they will look into the genes of the Wooly Mammoth that gave them their signature traits, such as cold-hardiness and their dome-shaped heads, and alter the genes of a non-extinct animal (which would be an Asian elephant) to reproduce the animal.

“If we can de-extinct those genes, then you have the mammoth 2.0.”

Lamm went on to state that they are essentially building a "de-extinction" tool kit that will be freely available to conversationalists to bring back other animals, presumably more recently extinct animals like the Pinta Giant Tortoise (ex. 2012) the Spix's Macaw (ex. 2016) or any of the many others that have left the plant for good- for now anyways.

If I get a vote, I'd like a Tasmanian Tiger next.