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Colossal, a biotech company, wants to bring the extinct Woolly mammoth back to life by 2027.
Last year, the company, based in Texas, received an extra $60 million in funding. The money will help Colossal continue the gene–editing work it started in 2021. If the company can successfully bring the woolly mammoth back to life, it wants the animal to live in the same regions it used to.
Colossal says that the woolly mammoth can help fight climate change. The company believes that the animal’s migration patterns were an important part of the Arctic’s ecosystem.
The original plans were to reintroduce the woolly into Siberia, Russia. But, because of global politics at this time, it seems unlikely. The company is considering other options.
A woolly mammoth’s DNA is almost the same as an Asian elephant. It’s a 99.6% match. The company says that its scientists are in the process of editing genes so the woolly mammoth can live again.
When the scientists finish editing the genes, they will use a female African elephant to carry the baby and give birth to a new woolly mammoth. Colossal wants to reintroduce a few mammoths in different parts of the Arctic so they can reproduce and make more mammoths.
If Colossal can bring back the woolly mammoth, they also want to bring back the Tasmanian tiger. Of course, there are many ethical questions about these projects.
Vocabulary
- Biotech (biotechnology) – the scientific study using living organisms to develop healthcare products and processes; technology or industrial processes using living things such as cells and bacteria
- Extinct – no longer alive; no longer existing; no longer used;
- Based in – to operate from a location; to do business from that place; set in a location
- Receive – get; encounter; experience;
- Funding – money/financial support given to someone or something to help it succeed or grow
- Gene – a small part of DNA
- Edit – to make changes or corrections to something, usually video, pictures or texts
- Region – a large area of the Earth; an area of land with similar qualities/characteristics
- Fight – to use a lot of effort to defeat something, achieve something, or to stop something happening
- Climate change – the fast and dangerous change in weather happening around the world
- Migration pattern – the way that animals, birds, or people move from one place to another, usually over time or in response to seasonal changes
- Arctic – the northernmost region of the Earth, with cold weather, ice, and snow
- Ecosystem – a community of living and non-living things that interact with each other in a specific environment or region
- Reintroduce – to bring back a type of animal or plant to a place where it has been extinct or disappeared from
- Politics – the activities of the government or politicians; the art or science of government; the actions or activities connected with achieving and using power in a country or society
- Unlikely – not expected to happen; not likely; doubtful; improbable
- Consider – to think about carefully; to take ‘something’ into account when thinking or deciding;
- DNA – 🧬 small parts of living things that give instructions to the body on how to grow
- In the process – happening or being done; someone is working on it or doing it
- Female – woman; a person/animal that can produce eggs and give birth to young
- Carry a baby – to be pregnant and have a growing baby inside the body
- Give birth – to produce or deliver a baby; when a baby leaves the mother’s body
- Reproduce – When living things reproduce, they produce young plants, animals, etc.; to produce a new living thing of the same type as itself
- Ethical – relating to beliefs about what is morally right and wrong; relating to moral principles and values that help us decide what is right or wrong in human behavior
Quiz
Discussion Questions
- What do you think the pros and cons of this project are? Are you in favor of it or against it?
- What are some of the ethical issues regarding this project? Why might some people be against the project?
- How might this project affect other extinct or living animals? What problems could happen when reintroducing an extinct animal to a region?
Original Story
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