The Take

Revisiting: Can we revive the woolly mammoth? Should we?

The Take speaks with the head of a company that says it can de-extinct the woolly mammoth.

Undated photo shows remains of a woolly mammoth, virtually intact and still frozen. Scientists said October 20 that they had dug up the entire 23,000-year old woolly mammoth with tusks from the Siberian permafrost and transported it intact and still frozen. — Scientists have found the remains of 23,000-year-old woolly mammoths, virtually intact and still frozen [File: Reuters]

Woolly mammoths went extinct several thousand years ago. But if a new company gets its way, something like the woolly mammoth could walk the Earth again within the decade. The company Colossal Biosciences announced in 2021 that it had raised $15m to genetically modify an Asian elephant so that it has the cold-tolerant traits of a woolly mammoth. Since then, the project’s leaders have gotten even more money and attention, from sources as varied as socialite Paris Hilton to the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Their plan has been received with a mix of scepticism, excitement and controversy.

In this episode:

Ben Lamm (@federallamm), co-founder and CEO of Colossal Biosciences (@ItIsColossal)
Tori Herridge (@ToriHerridge), evolutionary biologist at the Natural History Museum in London (@NHM_London)
Joe Bennett (@Joe_Ecology), associate professor of biology at Carleton University

Episode credits:

This episode was updated by Negin Owliaei. The original production team included Negin Owliaei, Tom Fenton, Ruby Zaman, Amy Walters, Alexandra Locke, Priyanka Tilve, Ney Alvarez, Stacey Samuel, and our host, Malika Bilal. Alex Roldan is our sound designer. Munera Al Dosari and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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Source: Al Jazeera