Ten Surreal Attempts to Bring Species Back from Extinction

In a world of aggressive hunting and rapidly changing ecosystems, more and more species are being wiped out. But does extinction have to be the end? It might sound like something from Jurassic Park, but advances in gene editing and cloning techniques mean scientists could be on the verge of reviving long-gone creatures. Could mammoths, dodos, aurochs, and more be about to roam the Earth again? The studies are always controversial, but here are ten extraordinary attempts to breathe life into extinct species.

Related: 10 Animals Who Amputate Parts of Their Body

10 Woolly Mice, the Latest Attempt to Revive the Mammoth

Bringing the woolly mammoth back from extinction is a Herculean task. But scientists think they might be one step closer to that goal after coming up with a new, more petite species: the woolly mouse. Researchers at Texas-based tech company Colossal Biosciences created the furry rodents. The team used advanced gene editing techniques to engineer woolly mice with similar mutations to those in mammoth DNA. The rodents are covered in shaggy hair, which scientists hope should improve their ability to withstand cold.

Colossal claims woolly mice are a landmark moment on its journey to de-extinct the mammoth. The company’s key goal is to modify the DNA of Asian elephants to give them the traits of mammoths. But not everyone shares their excitement at the hairy critters. “It’s far away from making a mammoth or a ‘mammoth mouse,’” genome engineer Stephan Riesenberg told reporters. “It’s just a mouse that has some special genes.”^[1]

9 Aurochs, Prehistoric Cattle Live on Through Back-Bred Bovid

Scientists are trying to reintroduce giant cattle known as aurochs into the wild. Well, not quite aurochs. The prehistoric bovids roamed Europe for thousands of years. Scientists believe that some weighed well over a tonne. But the last surviving female died in a forest in Poland in 1627. Instead, researchers have bred six existing European species to create a new similar type of cattle: the tauros.

This attempt to bring aurochs back into the wild is part of the push to save dwindling grassland ecosystems. Rewilders hope these large grazing herbivores will create micro-habitats where plants and insects thrive. Primitive cattle like aurochs churn the ground with their horns to strengthen their neck muscles. In doing this, they form bull pits, which support all sorts of tiny species. Ecologists have already released several herds of tauros across Europe, which seem to have adapted well to their new life in the wild.^[2]

8 Quagga, South African Scientists Try to Bring Back Lost Zebra

The South African quagga looks like a zebra that gave up halfway through. Its front half is striped, and at the rear, it tapers into a reddish brown. European settlers hunted the species to extinction at the end of the 1800s. But now, conservationists near Cape Town have engineered an animal they say is the closest thing to a quagga alive today.

Scientists working on the Quagga Project intend to revive the long-gone trotter. From surviving quagga skins, they knew the animal was a subspecies of plains zebra. The team set about selectively breeding zebras to bring out the distinctive half-and-half pattern. Over four to five generations, they created an animal with stripes at the front and brown at the back, known as Rau quaggas.

While scientists admit this new breed “might not be genetically the same,” the Quagga Project aims to preserve an erased part of South African wildlife. As Professor Eric Harley told reporters, “If we can retrieve the animals or retrieve at least the appearance of the quagga, then we can say we’ve righted a wrong.”^[3]

7 Bush Moa, Researchers Reconstruct Full DNA of New Zealand Bird

Using DNA from a bone fossil, biologists successfully recreated the complete genetic code of an extinct New Zealand bird called the little bush moa. Researchers say this 2024 study opens up new avenues for reviving not just moas but lost species of birds in general.

Despite the name, the little bush moa was not a tiny bird. It grew a little bigger than a turkey, although its cousins reached up to 11 feet (3.4 m) tall. The flightless critter died out around 700 years ago, hunted to extinction for its delicious meat. This latest research offers scientists a newfound insight into the long-gone species. As they explained in their paper, little bush moas had an ample sense of smell. Their eyes could probably pick up ultraviolet light.

While the study could pave the way for the species’ return, scientists warn about the need for caution. On de-extinction, study author and Harvard researcher Scott Edwards explained, “It seems within the realm of possibility. I think scientists will pursue it. The important thing is that they pursue it with care and understanding for the ethical and ecological consequences.”^[4]

6 Dodo, Gene Editing Could Revive African Bird

We are heading back to Colossal Biosciences for this entry. Along with creating woolly mice, the maverick company wants to bring the dodo back from extinction. The flightless bird once roamed the forests of Mauritius but died out in the 17th century.

Scientists plan to use advanced DNA techniques to edit the genes of a closely related species. They hope this will bring out features similar to those of a dodo. Genome sequencing revealed that the African waddler resembles the Nicobar pigeon, an island bird in Southeast Asia. Colossal says the pigeon would be the most likely candidate. If they succeed in recreating the dodo, the team hopes to reintroduce it into Mauritius.^[5]

5 Pyrenean Ibex, Scientists Clone Mountain Goat from Frozen Tissue

The Pyrenean ibex, or bucardo, is the first species to become extinct twice. The rugged mountain goat used to traipse the mountains of Western Europe, able to withstand extreme conditions and piercing winters. The last bucardo, Celia, died in 2000 after she was hit by a falling tree.

Fortunately, before Celia’s demise, scientists froze some of her tissue in liquid nitrogen. In 2003, they used those cells to create a bucardo clone. It was a complex process involving modified goat cells and surrogate hybrids. From 57 embryos, seven animals fell pregnant, and one gave birth. It was a momentous occasion—the first species to return from extinction. Sadly, the calf died from a lung defect a few minutes after birth, and thus the species was gone again.

In 2013, scientists announced new plans to clone the Pyrenean ibex from Celia’s preserved cells. This time, they hope advanced gene editing technology will give them a better shot. But at the time of writing, scientists have been unable to revive the species.^[6]

4 Thylacine, Tasmanian Tiger Might Be About to Return

The fearsome thylacine once prowled the forests of Tasmania, but the species ended when the last one died in a zoo in 1936. Hunters killed off most of the beasts to stop them from savaging the island’s livestock. Now, scientists are edging closer to possibly bringing back the chilling Tasmanian tiger.

Researchers have pieced together the genetic code from a 108-year-old specimen. A team from the US and Australia claims its sequence is 99.9% accurate. Scientists plan on using cutting-edge gene editing techniques to alter the DNA of the thylacine’s closest living relative: the fat-tailed dunnart.

While the project has plenty of critics, it allows scientists to study how the long-gone tiger would have lived. “With this new resource in hand, we will be able to determine what a thylacine could taste, what it could smell, what kind of vision it had and even how its brain functioned,” explained geneticist Professor Andrew Pask from the University of Melbourne.^[7]

3 York Groundsel, British Flower Blooms Once More

Zoologists are not the only ones bringing species back from the dead; our green-fingered friends also deserve praise. In 2023, botanists in England revealed they had revived a rare flower known as the York groundsel. The hybrid plant first cropped up in York in the 1970s, but it vanished around 20 years later.

Luckily, before the groundsel’s extinction, scientists saved some seeds at the Millennium Seed Bank. Years later, a team from Natural England and the Rare British Plants Nursery planted pips around York’s railway station. Now, thousands of tiny groundsels are shooting up and flowering as the rare hybrid returns to the city.

As researcher Alex Prendergast explained, “It’s quite a cheery, sunny-looking thing that brightens up the pavements. It also might be important for pollinators in the future; it’s quite a showy little plant, and it flowers every month of the year.”^[8]

2 Gastric Brooding Frog, Aussie Amphibian Turns Its Stomach into a Womb

The gastric brooding frog is remarkable, famed for using its stomach as a womb. The mother swallows her own eggs and lets them brood in her belly. After they hatch, the Aussie amphibian does not eat for six weeks as the tadpoles grow inside her. Her insides become so warped and bulbous that her lungs collapse. When the young are ready to emerge, the mother vomits them out as tiny froglets.

Biologists first discovered this unique reproductive system in 1974, but the strange croaker was extinct in less than ten years. Now, a team at the University of New South Wales is trying to bring the creature back. Under the guidance of Mark Archer, researchers use pioneering cloning techniques to implant gastric brooding DNA into surrogate eggs. Scientists hope that if they can revive one species of frog, they can use similar methods to save hundreds of other amphibians in danger of being wiped out.^[9]

1 Heck Cattle, Nazi Brothers Try to Recreate Murderous Auroch

We now return to an animal covered earlier in this list: the auroch, an ancient type of giant, predatory bovid. Before the more docile tauros arrived, two fascist brothers created a formidable super breed called Heck cattle. Funded by the Nazis, zoo owners Lutz and Heinz Heck tried to revive the species by breeding cattle with similar traits. They sought animals like Spanish fighting bulls that gave them the shape, hardiness, and aggression of the auroch.

Third Reich leaders dreamed of hunting ferocious herds in the wild plains of Europe. Historians say the project echoes the Nazi ideology of racial purity. Bringing back the auroch to what they saw as a heroic mythical past.

Almost a century later, some Heck cattle still exist in Europe. Farmers in England and the Netherlands have reintroduced the beasts as part of rewilding projects.^[10]