Ambitious or Possible? A company plans to bring back species that went extinct hundreds of thousands of years ago

Some people think Ambitious; Others Insurance They believe it would be a great idea. Anyway, the project is already underway.

Great life sciences He announced a new step in his plan Bring back extinct species. Two years ago, the company announced its launch Woolly mammoth And, this Tuesday, he surprised by announcing that he would do the same Dodo.

“The dodo is a symbol of man-made destruction,” he said. Ben LamSerial entrepreneur and co-founder and regional director of Colossal.

That’s why, in order to bring this turkey-sized bird back to life, unable to fly, Extinct in 1681 On the island of Mauritius – in the Indian Ocean – a unit focused on bird-related genetic technologies has even been created.

To implement this new phase of the project, the Dallas-based company – established in 2021, 150 million dollars In additional funds. So, they already add up $225 million A range of investors, challenged by the proposal, have given it a vote of confidence.

Among them the US Technology Innovation Fund, Brayer Capital And In-Q-Tel -The CIA’s venture capital firm that invests in technology.

Lam is clear about bringing Dodo to life Does not directly generate moneyIt is hoped that there may be genetic tools and equipment to be developed for this purpose Other applications In the future, as Medical care in humans.

In fact, Colossal is already experimenting Tools that allow us to change different parts of the genome Simultaneously and working on technologies called “Official Womb”.

Dependent DodoThe group plans From a study of DNA differences between the Nicobar pigeon And he said the dodo needs to understand “what genes make a dodo a dodo.” Beth ShapiroMolecular Biologist on the Institute’s Scientific Advisory Board.

Shapiro has studied this bird for two decades and says it is the Nicobar Pigeon next of kin For that, it is very useful for molecular reconstruction.

Once that phase of analysis is complete, the team can try Edit pigeon cells So they resemble the dodo or it can Placing the modified cells into developing eggs From other birds – pigeons or chickens – to create a brood that can naturally produce dodo eggs.

However, since animals are a product of their genetics and environment — this has changed dramatically since they were last seen alive in the 1600s, Shapiro explained. “You can’t recreate a 100% identical copy of something that no longer exists”.

Some scientists have questioned whether it’s even worth trying “destruction” Diverts attention and money from jobs Save living things on earth.

“There’s a real danger in saying that if we destroy nature, we can bring it back, because we can’t,” said Stuart Pimm, an ecologist at Duke University.

On the other hand, he was surprised “Where would you put a woolly mammoth if not in a cage?”The ecosystems they lived in have completely disappeared.

And on a practical level, conservation biologists familiar with captive breeding programs say zoo-bred animals are difficult to adapt to the wild.

Animals in general Learn from other wild specimens of their species Around them, there are no todos or mammoths, said Boris Worm, a biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

“Preventing species extinction should be our first priority, and in most cases it’s the cheapest,” Worm concluded.

(With information from AP)

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