{"id":251789,"date":"2025-03-04T22:41:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T22:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/04\/scientists-trying-to-bring-back-the-woolly-mammoth-create-a-woolly-mouse\/"},"modified":"2025-03-04T22:41:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T22:41:32","slug":"scientists-trying-to-bring-back-the-woolly-mammoth-create-a-woolly-mouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/04\/scientists-trying-to-bring-back-the-woolly-mammoth-create-a-woolly-mouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists trying to bring back the woolly mammoth create a woolly mouse"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Scientists<\/div>


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Scientists trying to bring back the woolly mammoth have created a woolly mouse.<\/p>\n

Colossal Biosciences unveiled plans in 2021 to revive the woolly mammoth<\/a><\/strong> – and later the dodo bird – attracting investors, headlines and critics alike.<\/p>\n

The Texas-based biotech company has since focused on identifying the key traits of extinct animals with the goal of genetically engineering them into living animals, according to chief executive Ben Lamm.<\/p>\n

Read more: Why ‘de-extincting’ the mammoth won’t be like Jurassic Park<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Pic: Colossal Biosciences\/AP
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n \"Genetically\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Pic: Colossal Biosciences\/AP
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Alongside bringing back species that went extinct, the company hopes their work can be used to help with conservation efforts.<\/p>\n

But other scientists have mixed views of their work and whether it will be helpful.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Colossal Biosciences said its researchers had edited seven genes in mice embryos to create a mouse with long, thick, woolly hair.<\/p>\n

They nicknamed the extra-furry rodent a “colossal woolly mouse.”<\/p>\n

The company now plans to genetically modify Asian elephants to give them woolly mammoth traits – but critics have argued that this is different from actually bringing a species back from extinction.<\/p>\n

“You’re not actually resurrecting anything – you’re not bringing back the ancient past,” said Christopher Preston, a wildlife and environment expert at the University of Montana, who was not involved in the research.<\/p>\n

He added: “You might be able to alter the hair pattern of an Asian elephant or adapt it to the cold, but it’s not bringing back a woolly mammoth. It’s changing an Asian elephant.”<\/p>\n

The results have not yet been published in a journal or vetted by independent scientists.<\/p>\n

The feat “is technologically pretty cool,” said Vincent Lynch, a biologist at the University of Buffalo, who was not involved in the research.<\/p>\n

Alongside the mouse being given different hair, in a press release, Colossal Biosciences said the rodent had also gained the woolly mammoth’s accelerated fat metabolism.<\/p>\n

Both were said to be likely related to cold tolerance.<\/p>\n

These genetic variations were already present in some living mice, the company’s chief scientist Beth Shapiro said, adding: “We put them all together in a single mouse.”<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:<\/strong>
Smoke bombs thrown in Serbia’s parliament<\/a><\/strong>
‘Stalker’ threatens to kill during live stream<\/a>
Inside Bangladesh’s ‘death squad’ jails<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The company said it focused first on mice to confirm the process worked before potentially moving onto the embryos of Asian elephants – the closest living relative of woolly mammoths.<\/p>\n

However, as Asian elephants are an endangered species, there will be a lot of red tape before any plans can move forward, Mr Lamm admitted.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists trying to bring back the woolly mammoth have created a woolly mouse. Colossal Biosciences unveiled plans in 2021 to revive the woolly mammoth – and later the dodo bird – attracting investors, headlines and critics alike. The Texas-based biotech company has since focused on identifying the key traits of extinct animals with the goal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/03\/768x432\/skynews-genetically-mice-colossal-biosciences_6845949.jpg?20250304131850","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[607],"tags":[5191,3816,26877,16668,601,73108],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251789"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251789"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251791,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251789\/revisions\/251791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}