Scientists Working to Bring Back Woolly Mammoth Create Woolly Mice

A genetically modified rodent with thick, woolly fur. Credit: Rui Chen et al. / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Researchers are moving guardant successful their efforts to revive the woolly mammoth by creating woolly mice. Scientists astatine Colossal Biosciences, a U.S.-based familial engineering company, accidental they person successfully created mice with thick, woolly fur – marking a tiny but important measurement toward their extremity of modifying Asian elephants to person mammoth-like traits.

The institution aims to nutrient the archetypal mammoth-like elephant by 2028 done precocious cistron editing. Scientists are studying the familial differences betwixt Asian elephants and woolly mammoths, focusing connected cardinal traits that helped the extinct taxon past successful acold climates.

Breakthrough successful familial modifications

Researchers precocious created genetically modified mice with coats adapted for acold tolerance, including heavy fur and golden-brown coloring. Instead of inserting mammoth DNA, they edited rodent genes liable for hairsbreadth texture, length, and color.

Two of the altered genes are besides recovered successful mammoths, suggesting they played a relation successful processing the species’ woolly coats.

They've spliced woolly mammoth genes into mice.

There are now… WOOLLY MICE.

If you don’t wanna speech astir this, we person thing to discuss. pic.twitter.com/xRmumlJfqw

— Isley (@IsleyResistance) March 4, 2025

Scientists besides modified a cistron linked to abdominous metabolism, which they judge whitethorn person helped mammoths store vigor for endurance successful freezing temperatures. Using precise gene-editing techniques, the squad made up to 8 familial changes successful a azygous experiment.

Despite these advancements, not each modified embryos resulted successful unrecorded births. Some mice were successfully calved with woolly oregon agelong fur, but their assemblage size remained unchanged adjacent with the fat-processing cistron alteration.

“It does not accelerate thing but it’s a monolithic validating point,” said Colossal Biosciences CEO Ben Lamm.

Skepticism from experts

While the study represents advancement successful genetic engineering, immoderate scientists question its value successful the broader effort to bring backmost the mammoth.

Robin Lovell-Badge, a stem compartment and genetics adept astatine the Francis Crick Institute successful London, praised the study’s method execution but pointed retired gaps successful its findings. He noted that the probe did not explicate however these genes power hairsbreadth maturation oregon whether they would relation the aforesaid mode successful elephants.

Meet the Colossal woolly rodent 🐭 🧵 pic.twitter.com/n6V6Sl3pLa

— Colossal Biosciences® (@colossal) March 4, 2025

“As it is, we person immoderate cute-looking hairy mice, with nary knowing of their physiology, behaviour, etc,” Lovell-Badge said. “It doesn’t get them [the researchers] immoderate person to cognize if they would yet beryllium capable to springiness an elephant utile mammoth-like traits and we person learned small biology.”

Other experts accent that engineering a mammoth-like elephant presents a overmuch greater situation than modifying mice.

Dr. Tori Herridge, an evolutionary biologist astatine the University of Sheffield, cautioned that the fig of genes progressive successful creating a existent mammoth-like elephant is apt overmuch higher than scientists presently understand. Additionally, utilizing elephants arsenic surrogates raises ethical and logistical concerns.

“Mammoth de-extinction doesn’t look to beryllium connected the skyline anytime soon,” Herridge said.

Next steps and unanswered questions

Colossal Biosciences plans to trial the acold tolerance of the genetically modified mice successful the coming months to find whether their fur and metabolism changes supply immoderate endurance vantage successful little temperatures.

The institution remains optimistic that its probe could pb to breakthroughs successful taxon restoration and conservation. However, immoderate scientists reason that resources would beryllium amended spent connected preventing modern taxon from going extinct alternatively than attempting to resurrect 1 that disappeared thousands of years ago.