You've probably seen the headlines. A de-extinction company wants to bring back the woolly mammoth. Then they added the dodo to the list. Then the thylacine. It sounds like a pitch for a Jurassic Park sequel that skipped the "it's just a movie" part. So, naturally, the internet is asking: is Colossal Biosciences legit, or are we just looking at a very expensive exercise in vanity?
Honestly, the answer isn't a simple yes or no. It depends on whether you're asking if they have real money, real scientists, or if they’re actually going to put a trunked beast on the Siberian tundra by 2028.
The Money and the Men Behind the Mammoth
Let’s talk about the "legit" part first. In the world of tech and biotech, legitimacy usually follows the money. Colossal isn't some guy in a garage with a CRISPR kit. They have raised over $225 million. We are talking about serious backing from firms like United States Innovative Technology Fund, Breyer Capital, and even In-Q-Tel—which is basically the venture capital arm of the CIA.
Why would the CIA care about mammoths? They don't. They care about the underlying genetic engineering tools being developed.
The company was co-founded by Ben Lamm and George Church. Lamm is a serial entrepreneur known for scaling tech companies. George Church, however, is the real deal. He’s a Harvard geneticist who basically helped start the Human Genome Project. If Church is attached to it, the science isn't "fake." It might be ambitious, maybe even slightly insane, but it's based on actual synthetic biology.
It's Not Really a "Mammoth"
This is where people get tripped up. Colossal isn't cloning a mammoth. You can’t clone something if you don't have a living cell, and every mammoth cell on Earth has been dead for thousands of years.
Instead, they are using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to tweak the genome of the Asian Elephant. The Asian Elephant is the mammoth's closest living relative; they share about 99.6% of the same DNA. Colossal is looking at that 0.4% difference. They want to swap in the genes for thick hair, subcutaneous fat layers, and those small, cold-resistant ears.
Basically, they are building a "cold-tolerant elephant" that looks and acts like a mammoth. It’s a functional proxy.
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The Technological Spin-offs
Is Colossal Biosciences legit as a business? Probably. Even if they never produce a single dodo bird, the patents they are filing for "multiplex editing" and new CRISPR delivery methods are worth a fortune.
Think of it like the Apollo program. We didn't just get moon rocks; we got GPS, Teflon, and better heart monitors. Colossal is betting that while they chase the mammoth, they’ll stumble upon breakthroughs in gestation technology (like their work on artificial wombs) that could revolutionize human medicine or livestock production.
They've already produced results in other areas. For example, the Colossal team has been working on a vaccine for Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus (EEHV), which kills a massive percentage of Asian elephant calves. That's real-world conservation happening right now, funded by "mammoth money."
The Skeptics Have a Point
Not everyone is buying the hype. Dr. Jeremy Austin from the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA has been pretty vocal, calling de-extinction "fairytale science."
The hurdles are genuinely massive.
- Gestation: How do you carry a genetically modified embryo to term? Using a surrogate Asian elephant is ethically tricky because they are already endangered.
- Behavior: If a "mammoth" is born, who teaches it how to be a mammoth? Behavior in large mammals is learned, not just programmed.
- Environment: The world has changed. The "Mammoth Steppe" doesn't exist in the same way it did 10,000 years ago.
Colossal argues that reintroducing these animals will actually help fix the environment. They point to the "Pleistocene Park" theory by Sergey Zimov, which suggests that heavy herbivores knocking down trees and trampling snow can keep the permafrost colder, preventing methane leaks. It’s a bold claim. Some ecologists love it. Others think it’s a drop in the bucket compared to global carbon emissions.
The Thylacine and the Dodo
The project in Tasmania to bring back the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) is actually moving faster than the mammoth. Why? Because the thylacine went extinct much more recently (1936). The DNA samples are in much better shape.
And then there's the dodo.
This one is weirdly difficult because bird reproduction is a nightmare for gene editing. You can't just edit a mammalian egg. You have to deal with the yolk and the shell. Colossal is working on "primordial germ cells" (PGCs) that can be injected into a host embryo. If they crack this for the dodo, it opens the door for saving every endangered bird species on the planet.
Why the "Legit" Label Still Matters
When people ask "is Colossal Biosciences legit," they are usually worried about a "Theranos" situation. You remember Elizabeth Holmes—all black turtlenecks and no actual blood tests.
Colossal is different because their scientists are publishing. They aren't hiding in a black box. They are active in the scientific community, and their work on elephant stem cells (iPSCs) has been peer-reviewed and widely discussed. They recently announced they had successfully created elephant induced pluripotent stem cells—a massive "holy grail" in elephant biology that had eluded researchers for decades.
That alone gives them a level of street cred that a scam wouldn't have.
What This Means for the Future
We are entering an era of "de-extinction as a service." Even if you think the mammoth is a bad idea, the tech being built is going to be used for "genetic rescue."
Imagine if we could edit the few remaining Northern White Rhinos to have more genetic diversity. Or if we could make coral reefs resistant to rising ocean temperatures. That is the real goal. The mammoth is just the "North Star"—the big, hairy goal that gets people to write checks and young scientists to stay in the lab until 3:00 AM.
Steps to Follow the Progress
If you're skeptical but curious, don't just read the press releases. The company is actually fairly transparent about its milestones.
- Monitor the iPSC Research: Keep an eye on their progress with elephant stem cells. This is the foundation for everything else. If they can turn these into eggs and sperm, the mammoth becomes a "when," not an "if."
- Check the IUCN Guidelines: The International Union for Conservation of Nature has specific guidelines for de-extinction. See if Colossal's ecological surveys in the Arctic or Mauritius (for the dodo) actually align with these standards.
- Look for the "First Birth" of a Proxy: The first real test won't be a mammoth. It will likely be a modified bird or a smaller mammal. That will be the proof of concept that the lab-to-life pipeline actually works.
- Follow the Bioethics Debate: Join the conversation around whether we should do this. Organizations like the Long Now Foundation have been discussing the ethics of "Revive & Restore" for years.
Colossal Biosciences is a real company with real scientists and real money. They aren't faking the lab work. Whether they can actually recreate an extinct species' entire social structure and ecological impact is a different question entirely, but as far as being a "legit" entity in the biotech space, they have already moved past the point of being a mere curiosity. They are a powerhouse in the making, for better or worse.
Actionable Insight: To get the most objective view on Colossal's progress, follow the independent research of their Scientific Advisory Board members, many of whom are leading academics at institutions like UCSC and Melbourne University. Their individual reputations are on the line, which serves as a natural check against corporate over-hype.