With their combined expertise in biotech,
innovation and conservation, the partners will accelerate efforts
to prevent extinction, recover and strengthen wildlife populations,
and restore ecosystems
Re:wild and Colossal Biosciences are celebrating a new, powerful
partnership that aims to accelerate global efforts to save species
on the brink of extinction, search for lost species, and restore
key habitats for species recovery and rewilding.
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Image composite includes an AI-generated
image of the extinct Thylacine, which Colossal and Re:wild hope to
bring back and restore as a part of this new partnership, and a
photo of the endangered Tasmanian devil, which will benefit from
the de-extinction technology being developed for the thylacine. (AI
image courtesy of Colossal Biosciences; Tasmanian devil photo by
Aussie Ark)
Colossal is developing de-extinction technology to bring back
the legendary dodo, thylacine and woolly mammoth as re-built
de-extinct species, and the new partnership will deploy this
technology to revolutionize and accelerate the recovery of some of
today’s species on the brink of extinction. The partners have
developed a 10-year conservation strategy that brings together
Re:wild’s extensive experience in wildlife and ecosystem
conservation with Colossal’s advances in the fields of genomics,
assisted reproductive technologies, gene editing and computational
biology.
“I have dedicated my career to protecting and recovering species
that may be down to their last few individuals,” said Barney Long,
senior director of conservation strategies for Re:wild. “For some
of them, protecting their remaining habitat will not be enough to
allow them to recover. We are at the point where we need to do
something dramatically innovative. The possibilities that
Colossal’s technology opens up for critically endangered species
and ecosystems is game-changing.”
As Colossal’s strategic conservation partner, Re:wild will work
with and guide Colossal on the company’s work related to rewilding,
protecting and recovering threatened species, and working with
global and local partners. Together Colossal and Re:wild will focus
on:
- Genetic Rescue:
- The partnership will support or create conservation breeding
programs with local partners to utilize Colossal’s de-extinction
technologies to help species on the brink of extinction, and
support their restoration in the wild.
- Supporting the Search for Lost Species:
- Colossal and Re:wild will work with and support local partners
in searching for at least 50 lost species in the next five years
and catalyzing conservation for those rediscovered.
- International Best Practices:
- As part of this partnership, Re:wild and Colossal will be
guided by the IUCN SSC ‘Guiding Principles on Creating Proxies of
Extinct Species for Conservation Benefit,’ the IUCN SSC guidelines
for reintroductions and other conservation translocations, and
other global guidance documentation that the IUCN SSC or other
institutions create.
- Rewilding:
- The partnership will support local partners to reintroduce more
than 30 threatened species back to their native ecosystems as part
of a new species reintroduction fund.
- The partnership will work with local partners and governments
to restore at least three key sites.
- As a part of the partnership, Re:wild will advise Colossal on
the ecological feasibility of introducing re-built de-extinct
species to their native ecosystems, while governments and other
experts will advise on the legal, social and ethical feasibility.
All of this work will be done in close collaboration with local
communities, governments, organizations, and Indigenous
peoples.
“This partnership represents the next step in building
Colossal’s conservation technologies into a revolutionary tool in
the fight against biodiversity loss,” said Colossal’s Chief Animal
Officer Matt James. “Merging Colossal and Re:wild’s collective
conservation efforts, while bringing our scientific expertise to
more of their projects, will greatly expand the reach of our
technology and help to ensure we can save as many species as
possible.”
In partnership with local governments, conservation
organizations and communities, the partnership will focus initially
on the following threatened species:
- Asian elephant
- African forest elephant
- African savanna elephant
- Northern white rhino
- Sumatran rhino
- Pink pigeon
- Victorian grassland earless dragon
- Tasmanian devil
“By establishing a core focus and combining the strengths of
each organization, we are on track to a truly monumental
conservation win,” said Colossal’s Chief Science Officer Beth
Shapiro.
Some of the species that the partners will focus on will benefit
from advanced reproductive technology paired with reintroduction
efforts, while others will benefit from genetic rescue and habitat
protection and restoration.
For example, both wild and captive Asian elephants are at risk
from a deadly elephant herpes virus. Colossal has been working with
Paul Ling, a virologist at Baylor College of Medicine, to develop a
vaccine for the herpes disease, which is particularly lethal for
elephant calves. A vaccine could help increase the population of
Asian elephants because more calves would survive to adulthood and
eventually breed.
The northern white rhino is currently benefiting from Colossal’s
advanced reproductive technology. There are only two individual
northern white rhinos in the world and both are female. Colossal is
sequencing all available historic northern white rhino genetic
material to identify lost genetic diversity and then restoring this
lost diversity into future northern white rhino cell lines using
gene-editing techniques. Colossal and Re:wild, working with local
and international partners and governments, will then be able to
restore a genetically robust population of this species.
Leveraging the company’s advanced de-extinction
genetic-engineering technologies, Colossal is rebuilding the
extinct dodo to reintroduce to its native ecosystem where it can
fill its ecological niche. The new partnership will work with local
and global partners to identify and prepare suitable reintroduction
sites, build sustainable populations, and deeply engage with local
communities and other stakeholders to develop shared visions and
plans to return the dodo to Mauritius.
Colossal is supporting Re:wild’s Search for Lost Species.
Launched in 2017, the Search for Lost Species works with partners
around the world to mount expeditions to find species that have not
had a documented sighting in at least a decade, but sometimes a
century or more. Re:wild, in partnership with the IUCN SSC, has
compiled a list of 4,300 plant, animal and fungi species that are
lost to science and from that research has developed a list of the
most wanted lost species.
In addition to these species, the partnership is interested in
exploring the possibility of working with local partners to
leverage this technology for other priority species such as the
vaquita (the world’s smallest porpoise), the saola (an
antelope-like species in the Annamite mountains), and quoll species
(small carnivorous marsupials).
The partnership also hopes to develop solutions to build
resistance to pathogens responsible for wiping out entire groups of
species, such as harlequin toads, which have been decimated by a
fungal pathogen.
Additional quotes
Thomas Hildebrandt, head of the department of reproduction
management, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research
“Due to the accelerated global biodiversity crisis it is
important that in addition to the classical conservation approaches
such as habitat protection and captive breeding programs for
reintroduction, advanced cellular technologies will be implemented
into new conservation strategies especially for critically
endangered species. The new partnership between the de-extinction
company Colossal and the conservation NGO Re:wild presents a
milestone in this direction.”
Photo: Image composite includes an AI-generated image of
the extinct Thylacine, which Colossal and Re:wild hope to bring
back and restore as a part of this new partnership, and a photo of
the endangered Tasmanian devil, which will benefit from the
de-extinction technology being developed for the thylacine. (AI
image courtesy of Colossal Biosciences; Tasmanian devil photo by
Aussie Ark)
Download photos and video
Re:wild
Re:wild protects and restores the wild. We have a singular and
powerful focus: the wild as the most effective solution to the
interconnected climate, biodiversity and human wellbeing crises.
Founded by a group of renowned conservation scientists together
with Leonardo DiCaprio, Re:wild is a force multiplier that brings
together Indigenous peoples, local communities, influential
leaders, nongovernmental organizations, governments, companies and
the public to protect and rewild at the scale and speed we need.
Learn more at rewild.org.
Colossal
Colossal was founded by emerging technology and software
entrepreneur Ben Lamm and world-renowned geneticist and serial
biotech entrepreneur George Church, Ph.D., and is the first to
apply CRISPR technology for the purposes of species de-extinction.
Colossal creates innovative technologies for species restoration,
critically endangered species protection and the repopulation of
critical ecosystems that support the continuation of life on Earth.
Colossal is accepting humanity's duty to restore Earth to a
healthier state, while also solving for the future economies and
biological necessities of the human condition through cutting-edge
science and technologies. To follow along, please visit:
www.colossal.com
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240328647593/en/
Lindsay Renick Mayer lrenickmayer@rewild.org +1 512-686-6225
Devin Murphy dmurphy@rewild.org +1 512-686-6188
Emily Mailaender emily.mailaender@rcpmk.com