Jurassic Park is a classic movie most people have at least heard of. A team of scientists endeavors to bring back the dinosaurs from extinction and succeeds. This premise may be closer to reality than you think. The biotech startup Colossal has begun the process of doing just that. In 2021, started trying bring back the Wooly Mammoth, and shocked the world by announcing they are resurrecting the Tasmanian Tiger.
The Tasmanian Tiger, also known as the thylacine, was a marsupial hunted to extinction in the wild in the 1930s. The last member of the species died in captivity in 1936, relatively recently compared to things like the mammoth or dinosaurs. This gives them a complete DNA record of the animal and hopefully a great chance at breeding a live one. The process will involve comparing the fragmented DNA from the remains of the tiger with its closest living relative, the fat-tailed dunnart. They will then construct the new DNA from these two samples and surrogate the newly bred Tiger with another marsupial. The gestation process of the marsupials means that a relatively smaller animal can carry a larger fetus for some time.
These two monumental undertakings are not the final goal of Colossal, however. They want to introduce the new hybrid animals back into the environment and eventually have them reach sustainable populations. In addition to bringing back extinct species, this technology can be adapted to help preserve and possibly reverse the dwindling populations of endangered species. Time will tell if you will be able to book a vacation to a mammoth ranch in the colder part of the world someday soon.