A biotechnology company, based in Dallas, USA, is developing a plan to “revive” a predator that has been extinct on the planet for 87 years.
Colossal Biosciences recently announced the formation of the Tasmanian Tiger Advisory Committee, which will be a vital step in revitalizing the Tasmanian tiger, a species known as the Tasmanian tiger, an “apex” predator native to Tasmania, Australia and New Guinea.
It was one of Australia's most striking species, and was the country's only marsupial predator, but hunting and competition with other species, such as the dingo, led to it disappearing from the continent about 2,000 years ago, remaining only on the surface of the sea. Tasmania Island.. It was declared extinct in 1986, but the last known example of this species died 87 years ago.
This isn't the only species the company is trying to recover: the woolly mammoth and dodo also have plans of their own.
In an interview with Newsweek magazine, the company's CEO differentiates between the work it does and what the fictional InGen did in the Jurassic Park films. “Predators play an important role in ecosystems, keeping their prey in better environmental or health conditions,” he begins to explain.
The idea is that by restoring Tasmania's only 'apex' predator, the ecosystem can return to natural balance again.
The committee, which includes members from local governments, indigenous representatives, property owners, individuals, university representatives and the general population, will meet every three months to “discuss project updates” and “share information”.
Within the scope of the project, Colossal Biosciences has already made progress in collecting DNA, creating follicular stem cells and developing artificial wombs. Scientists are now working on the gene editing stage.
There is still no official birth date for the first “resurrected” thylacines, but Colossal Biosciences has already announced that the project's first mammoths could be born in 2028, followed by Tasmanian wolves.
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