'Extinction is still for ever'

Can genetics startup Colossal really bring back dead species?

- Patrick Greenfield

Death and taxes are supposed to be the things we can depend on in this life. But in 2025, the American entrepreneur Ben Lamm sold much of the world on the idea that death did not, after all, need to be for ever.

The billionaire's genetics startup, Colossal Biosciences, claimed it had resurrected the dire wolf, an animal that disappeared at the end of the last ice age, by tweaking the DNA of grey wolves. The company said it had also edged closer to bringing back the woolly mammoth, with the creation of genetically engineered "woolly mice".

It launched projects to revive the Tasmanian tiger (thylacine), the dodo and the moa, a 3-metre tall bird that has been extinct for 600 years. "We've made a lot of big promises to the world," Lamm said. "I think that we started to deliver."

Lamm, a 44-year-old veteran of gaming and AI startups, has brought a brash Silicon Valley showmanship and entrepreneurial drive to the genetic conservation sector - and his approach so far has been extremely lucrative.

He quickly realised de-extinction announcements were a recipe for excitement and publicity. When the company announced its "woolly mouse", he recalls, "people were losing their minds". Of the response, he said: "I thought: oh my gosh, they're going to go crazy about the dire wolf stuff."

He was right. When Colossal unveiled its interpretation of the dire wolf in April, the news made international headlines. Enthusiastic profiles in Time magazine and the New Yorker declared "the dire wolf is back".

Colossal invited the public to listen to "the first dire wolf howls in over 10,000 years" on YouTube. "Obviously the dire wolves were a massive hit and fan favourite," Lamm said.