Lamm, Colossal’s CEO, told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria last month that the biotechnology Colossal develops will be used to help rescue animals on the brink of extinction as well as those that have already disappeared. For example, he said, Colossal has produced two litters of cloned red wolves, the most critically endangered wolf species, using a new, less invasive approach to cloning developed during the dire wolf research.
“I think that we could have a scalable de-extinction system that isn’t going to replace conservation, but it is kind of that additional backup that I think we need, especially in these dire cases,” Lamm said.
Scott Edwards, a professor of organismic and evolutionary biology and curator of ornithology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, said he was excited by the project although the techniques necessary to bring back the giant moa would be different to the dire wolf, because birds develop in an egg, making the process more challenging, he said.
“It’s important that science reaches for the stars and, you know, I do understand the ethical concerns with bringing (these birds back) especially if there’s no place for them,” Edwards, who was not involved in the project, said. ”But if it works it will impress upon humanity just how much we’ve lost.”
The post Giant, flightless bird is next target for de-extinction company Colossal Biosciences appeared first on CNN.
