Woolly mammoths are the 4,000-year-old extinct relatives of today’s elephants. A US-based start-up Colossal Biosciences plans to bring them back to life in the Arctic. They would use the CRISPR gene-editing technology to modify Asian elephant embryos into those of woolly mammoths, and have received a funding of US $15 million. They believe that ‘mammophants’ could help reduce climate change and revive the ecosystem by trampling shrubs, knocking over trees, and fertilising grasses with their faeces. While this project hopes to reduce global warming, the moot question remains: just because we can resurrect extinct species, does this mean we should?
Student of Class 12, St Marks World School, New Delhi