Seeing a herd of mammoths roaming close to a town today would be a surprising sight. That’s because the massive animals haven’t existed on Earth for about 10,000 years! Mammoths lived during the ice age when sheets of ice covered most of what is now Europe, Asia, and North America. Beyond this frozen expanse stretched the tundra, a dry and cold region of grasslands that bison, horses, reindeer, and mammoths called home. Even though mammoths haven’t roamed the tundra for thousands of years, a U.S.-based company wants to “de-extinct,” or bring back, the animals and reintroduce them into the wild.
Colossal Biosciences plans to create a hybrid animal—a combination of a woolly mammoth and its closest living relative, the Asian elephant. Reviving the mammoth would provide a glimpse of a real-life prehistoric creature, says Ben Lamm, the co-founder of Colossal. “People have a childlike wonder to see what used to be here,” he says. Lamm believes that bringing back mammoths and other extinct animals could also benefit the planet (see Making a Comeback). He thinks their return may improve the health of their former ecosystems—communities of organisms interacting with their nonliving environments.
But some scientists aren’t so sure the company’s efforts will be successful—or if they should even try creating a mammoth hybrid. Critics say it’s hard to know if these animals would be able to survive in our modern world and whether they could cause more harm than good.