How Colossal’s Woolly Mouse Could Pave the Way for Mammoth Revival

In this People exclusive, Colossal Biosciences unveils the “woolly mouse” — engineered to express traits like dense golden fur and cold-adapted metabolism via seven mammoth-linked gene edits. The project serves as a proof of concept, showing how complex traits from extinct species can be engineered in faster, more manageable organisms. While survival in cold environments still needs testing, scientists see it as a pivotal step in refining conservation genomics techniques.

The woolly mouse offers a scalable, ethical way to validate genomic pipelines before applying them to larger species like elephants. Beyond the lab, it’s sparking public fascination and bringing de-extinction science into real-world conservation discussions. Projects like this also pave the way for other ambitious milestones — including Colossal’s groundbreaking Dire Wolf de-extinction project, which uses similar genomic methods to revive one of North America’s most iconic apex predators.

Read the full feature in People.