The best voices, from controversial columns to expert analysis, delivered to your inbox every week

Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinions and columns

Subscribe to our free weekly Voices newsletter

Experts believe there is a strong chance that long-lost species like the mammoth, dodo and Tasmanian tiger could be brought back from the dead before 2028 – with the help of Paris Hilton and Chris Hemsworth.

Put simply, the science behind the mission involves identifying the “core” genes that make an extinct animal what it is, and then replicating those genes using the DNA of a close relative.

Scientists at Colossal Biosciences are already well on their way to reviving the species using gene editing technology.

Colossal Biosciences is a biotech startup in Texas that has raised $235 million (£177 million) to date, with celebrity backers including Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, American socialite Paris Hilton and motivational guru Tony Robbins.

But Ben Lamm, the company’s chief executive, said it was “highly likely” that the dodo and Tasmanian tiger could displace the mammoth – which went extinct around 4,000 years ago – within the next three years.

Mr Lamm said: “We are pursuing them all at the same pace.”

“Mammoths have a gestation period of 22 months (the development process in the womb).

“We have set a date for our first mammoth at the end of 2028 and are currently on track, which is great.”

“But since the other species have a much shorter gestation period, it is very likely that we will see another species before the mammoth.”

According to Colossal Biosciences, the Tasmanian tiger, which was declared extinct in Australia in 1982, has the shortest pregnancy, with a gestation period of “just weeks.”

And the typical gestation period of the dodo — a large flightless bird that once lived on the island of Mauritius but became extinct sometime in the 17th century — is about a month.

But Mr Lamm is reluctant to reveal which of the two has a better chance of an earlier resurrection, saying: “We’re not commenting yet on which species will be first, but I think it’s very likely we’ll have one before 2028.” Kind of have it.” , and it will be one of the three you’re looking at.”

Colossal Biosciences was founded in 2021 by technology entrepreneur Mr. Lamm along with Harvard University geneticist George Church.

According to Lamm, the woolly mammoth’s closest relative is the Asian elephant, with which it shares 99.5% of its genes.

He said: “Mammoths are genetically closer to Asian elephants than Asian elephants are to African elephants – that always kind of blows people away.”

The dodo’s closest living relative is the Nicobar pigeon, a gray bird with colorful facial features found in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India.

Meanwhile, the Tasmanian tiger is closely related to the thick-tailed dunnart, a tiny creature that looks like a mouse but is 100 times smaller, and it is thought an artificial womb may need to be invented to help the extinct animal evolve can.

The company is valued at around $1.7 billion (£1.3 billion) and has secured a further $50 million (£38 million) to create the Colossal Foundation.

The nonprofit aims to support conservation efforts, focusing on endangered animals such as the vaquita, a harbor porpoise that is also one of the most endangered marine species on the planet, the northern white rhinoceros, which is on the verge of extinction, and the pink rhinoceros Pigeon, a rare species found in Mauritius.

Mr Lamm said: “People like to talk about fighting the extinction of mammoths, thylacines and dodos, but we also do a lot of conservation and conservation work.”

“We make all the technologies we develop to fight extinction available to conservation groups.

“But now we’ve raised $50 million in new capital for our foundation alone to help scientists use these technologies on the ground and develop new ones for conservation, because there’s not enough money going into conservation, and that’s the case definitely not enough R&D (research and development) for nature conservation.”