Colossal BioSciences applies to patent ‘woolly mammoth’

Colossal BioSciences, the US start-up which has raised £435m since it launched in September 2021, plans to ‘de-extinct’ a range of creatures that once roamed the earth, including the woolly mammoth; but if it does, it wants to have patent rights on them, according to a news story in MIT Technology Review.

The report says Colossal has filed a wide-ranging patent application that would grant it exclusive rights to create and sell genetically engineered elephants containing DNA from extinct mammoths.

Colossal recently claimed to have recreated the Dire Wolf, as made famous in George R R Martin’s epic Game of Thrones fantasy books and the subsequent TV series. Martin, who is an investor in Colossal, was pictured cuddling one of the ‘Dire Wolf’ pups.

Experts from outside the company say the pups are actually Grey Wolves which have had genes from extinct Dire Wolves inserted into their DNA, with some suggesting that they are technically a new species.

Colossal says its work will help support biodiversity by re-introducing extinct species into their historic habitat, and that, for example, the Woolly Mammoth’s trampling might help preserve permafrost and combat climate change. A feature on the BBC website quoted Matt James, Colossal's chief animal officer, as saying: "We're trying to focus on species that can have cascading effects on an ecosystem to improve stability, lift biodiversity and maybe even help with climate change buffering."

However, critics say that recreating extinct species in this way is expensive and distracts from efforts to save species that are not yet extinct but are critically endangered.

Living organisms such as plants and animals, can be patented, assuming there is an element of genetic modification (outside of traditional breeding methods). Humans cannot, however, although genetic material derived from human tissue may be patentable.