Colossal Biosciences, a Texas-based biotech company, made headlines this April after falsely claiming to resurrect the extinct dire wolf. The company presents this as a breakthrough for conservation biology. However, our team of conservation geneticists at the Western University — along with many other academics views it as a dangerous deception.
Colossal’s so-called dire wolf is not a resurrected species. It’s a genetically modified grey wolf. Its creation is a publicity stunt designed to generate profit, with serious consequences.
Jenga approach to conservation
Conservation aims to safeguard ecosystems by preserving the networks of interaction between animals and their environment. Human activity has caused widespread habitat loss, driving extinction rates to levels estimated to be about 1,000 times higher than the natural background rate. We are living through a biodiversity crisis, and conservation remains our only real defence against further declines.
Colossal proposes de-extinction to combat this crisis, using a Jenga-block metaphor to explain their approach. The ecosystem is a Jenga tower, with each species representing a block — and losing a species weakens the structure, pushing it closer to collapse. Colossal Biosciences proposes that inserting a de-extinct species where a block was lost could help restore ecosystem stability and prevent collapse.
The premise isn’t entirely flawed; in some cases, introducing an animal into an unstable ecosystem to fill a lost ecological role can help restore balance. This is similar to reintroducing a species to an area where it once lived, which is a well-established conservation strategy.
Conservation and cloning
Likewise, cloning technology has the potential to aid in meaningful conservation projects. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has successfully used the technology to help restore the black-footed ferret, a species once considered extinct.
Every year scientists release 150 to 200 black-footed ferrets into their native habitat, with cloned individuals and their future offspring expected to strengthen the species’ chances of survival.
The flaw in Colossal’s plan is that the animals they focus on — Ice Age megafauna like the mammoth and dire wolf — no longer belong to any modern ecosystem. Most of the species they once interacted with disappeared, along with their habitats, roughly 10,000 years ago.
These synthetic animals are the wrong shape for our unstable Jenga tower. Forcing them into the gap might make the ecosystem more likely to collapse.
‘Frankensheep’: A cautionary tale
A warning tale of misused cloning technology comes from Montana rancher Arthur Schubarth, who illegally cloned hybrid bighorn sheep — “Frankensheep” — for trophy hunting. His operation not only exploited endangered species for profit, but also triggered outbreaks of infectious disease, demonstrating the risks that unchecked cloning technology poses to wildlife and ecosystems.
One of the most damaging aspects of Colossal’s announcement is the perpetuation of a decades-old myth that technology will save us. It would be comforting to believe we can genetically engineer our way out of the current biodiversity crisis, but that is not our reality.
Introducing Ice Age animals would have unpredictable and potentially damaging consequences. And even if we focused on more suitable animals — those whose ecosystems still exist and could benefit from de-extinction — we could never keep pace with the current rate of biodiversity loss.
Colossal’s de-extinction project also doesn’t tackle the forces driving extinction like climate change, habitat loss, exploitation, pollution and invasive species.
That’s not the story Colossal wants the public to understand. They brand themselves as leaders in conservation to sell content — catchy memes, viral videos, photoshoots with Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin and banter with Elon Musk about his future pet woolly mammoth.
Concerning implications
Valued at US$10.2 billion, Colossal is now contacting zoos about putting its pups on display.
The Toronto Zoo and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums have issued warnings against participating in the development or display of de-extinct animals. Still, some zoos may jump at the opportunity to boost ticket sales by offering the public a glimpse of this sci-fi spectacle.
As Colossal profits from marketing its greenwashed construct and hints at the creation of “Pleistocene Parks,” it is still unclear what this technology really means for the future of conservation.
Worse still, the de-extinction myth provides a guise for undermining habitat protection.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has already cited Colossal’s announcement as justification for weakening the Endangered Species Act.
Proposed changes to the act would give industrial activities greater freedom to destroy the habitats endangered species depend on — at a time when habitat loss remains the leading threat to species. A project marketed to rescue biodiversity could, instead, help speed up its decay.
We are deeply concerned about the implications of Colossal’s announcement, but we hope this moment drives more public interest and funding toward the difficult and less glamorous work that needs to be done to protect habitat and conserve biodiversity. The fanfare around Colossal’s genetic engineering feat should not distract from the global biodiversity crisis, which remains truly dire.
David Coltman, Professor, Biology, Western University; Carson Mitchell, MSc student, Biology, Western University; Liam Alastair Wayde Carter, Masters Student, Department of Biology, Western University, and Tommy Galfano, PhD Candidate in Evolutionary Ecology, Western University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
