If you had a chance to save a species from extinction, would you take it? I would—and I am.
There are numerous arguments in favor of de-extinction science, but I want to focus on the most pressing one: conservation. Experts predict that the earth could soon lose at least 40 percent of its biodiversity. My colleagues and I often cite a stat from the Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson: that around 30,000 species are disappearing every year, or nearly three per hour. And yet we have the capacity not only to stop extinction but to reverse it. To save the planet’s biodiversity, de-extinction must become Conservation 2.0.
My team and I at Colossal, a de-extinction company and lab, are establishing protocols, partnerships, and programs to create reproducible, affordable, and efficient processes to bring back marsupial, mammal, and avian species.
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De-extinction is that new generation of science that will prove to be the greatest ally of conservation. And it is already happening. In our efforts to de-extinct the woolly mammoth, we have brought together prominent conservation experts, committed funding to end a deadly elephant herpes virus, and supported assisted reproductive technologies for species outside of our immediate purview.
