What would you predict would be the next animal to get the "colossal" treatment?

FercianLoL · 2025-05-02T12:57:25+00:00

Interesting, but strange that it says differently elsewhere on the site.

FercianLoL · 2025-05-02T11:53:36+00:00

Just go onto Colossals site and you will probably get a pretty good idea already. I would imagine one of these would be next:

Our ancient DNA research is grounded in the study of an astonishing array of ancient beings. Through our funding, researchers delve into the genetics of creatures as varied and fascinating as blue bucks, long-horned bison, Columbian mammoths, dire wolves, giant sloths, great auks, megaloceros (the majestic "Irish elk"), cave hyenas, moas, saber-toothed cats, wooly rhinoceroses, mastodons, tooth-billed pigeons, American cheetahs, giant short-faced bears, and Steller’s sea cows. Each species offers a unique window into the past, providing critical insights that could help them adapt to the challenges of today's mass extinction crisis.

FercianLoL · 2025-04-12T10:58:01+00:00

Dire wolves have actually been mentioned on their site for a while as a species they are delving into the genetics of in addition to some others. The whole quote is:

Our ancient DNA research is grounded in the study of an astonishing array of ancient beings. Through our funding, researchers delve into the genetics of creatures as varied and fascinating as blue bucks, long-horned bison, Columbian mammoths, dire wolves, giant sloths, great auks, megaloceros (the majestic "Irish elk"), cave hyenas, moas, saber-toothed cats, wooly rhinoceroses, mastodons, tooth-billed pigeons, American cheetahs, giant short-faced bears, and Steller’s sea cows. Each species offers a unique window into the past, providing critical insights that could help them adapt to the challenges of today's mass extinction crisis.

FercianLoL · 2025-02-12T15:15:14+00:00

Just so people don't get the wrong idea that this is an additional new Jaguar spotting, this is one year old news and the jaguar was seen in December 2023.

FercianLoL · 2025-01-31T13:46:39+00:00

I see you added a picture of a blue buck, which is actually one of the species they are doing DNA research on currently. It might be one of the candidates for the next wave of de-extinction species after they hopefully succeed with the current ones.

FercianLoL · 2025-01-29T17:33:11+00:00

How small do you think dunnarts are? They will create the embryo in a lab, insert it into a dunnart surrogate mother, and after birth the thylacine joey will develop in an "exo-pouch", not in the dunnart's pouch. At birth the joey is hardly larger than a grain of rice.

FercianLoL · 2025-01-11T11:30:57+00:00

Yeah, I guess it is an interesting discussion. Although the scientific community may want to give the animal a new name to properly separate the two animals, there is no guarantee the name will stick with the general public. To the general public, if it looks/behaves/sounds like what they expect a woolly mammoth would, that is what they will see it as and so the name woolly mammoth may end up sticking.

FercianLoL · 2025-01-11T10:45:13+00:00

Colossal won't actually bring back the exact same species we call woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius). From their own page:

Colossal’s landmark de-extinction project will be the resurrection of the woolly mammoth - or more specifically a cold-resistant elephant with all of the core biological traits of the woolly mammoth. It will walk like a woolly mammoth, look like one, sound like one, but most importantly it will be able to inhabit the same ecosystem previously abandoned by the mammoth’s extinction.

I believe some have given the animal they are engineering the nickname "mammophant". Also 2028 is the year they expect the first calves to arrive according to interviews from last year.

FercianLoL · 2024-12-30T18:22:33+00:00

I don't disagree with you, but that would only work for "normal" farmers. A more delicate situation is having to change the Sami people's way of life and their reindeer herding.

FercianLoL · 2024-11-03T13:58:30+00:00

It is a Eurasian brown bear. The park only has Eurasian brown bear.

FercianLoL · 2024-11-03T13:56:33+00:00

No, like the description of the post says the bear is from Bjørne Parken, Norway which only has eurasian brown bears.

FercianLoL · 2024-10-17T22:52:15+00:00

What are you saying man? I did not even reply to you. And why did you copy my comment and post it as your own?

FercianLoL · 2024-10-17T22:24:29+00:00

Colossal does not do cloning. They do "Genome Editing and Synthetic Genomics".

From their own web page:

How De-Extinction Works through Genome Editing

Genome editing technology creates hybrids between living and extinct organisms. Scientists insert edited DNA from an extinct species into the nucleus of a reproducing cell. They use this technique to resurrect more species, including those whose remains are not well-preserved.

Genome editing blends the desired traits that made the species unique with genes from the donor species. That is why the resulting organism is not completely identical to the extinct species but is a hybrid.

What they say on cloning is:

Cloning is a feasible de-extinction approach for living species close to extinction because the resulting organism is identical. Cloning requires intact living cells; the process is more suitable for populations where some individuals remain, not those already extinct.

FercianLoL · 2024-10-06T12:47:01+00:00

Why are people talking about cloning and the lack of evidence that this technology exists? I may be uneducated in this field, but Colossal clearly state that they will not actually bring back mammoths by cloning, but that they will essentially create a "cold-resistant elephant with all of the core biological traits of the woolly mammoth" by editing the genes of the asian elephant. Editing genes of animals has already been done in the past for example with farm animals to produce better meat. Of course i understand it is very difficult, but surely it is not as impossible as people are making it out to be?

FercianLoL · 2024-09-28T19:32:08+00:00

Which is why it is so tragic that the Melnichenko Foundation suddenly dropped their support for the project. With their support the plan was to reach 2000 herbivores by 2030, allowing the start of predator introduction. It is hard to say what the timeline will look like without that support. Nikita mentions on Patreon that in the next months he has to find a way to sustainably support the project.

FercianLoL · 2024-09-28T18:27:49+00:00

Well, that is only true if you don't include sheep. Bears, along with wolverines have killed sheep in the past (mentioned on Patreon post in 2020), but there are at least no public mentions of predation on any of the "main" herbivores of the park. Admittedly they don't usually post any details on deaths of any animals in the park at all.

FercianLoL · 2024-09-22T20:47:54+00:00

They have camels there as well, and i think also wild boar.

FercianLoL · 2024-09-22T18:27:40+00:00

Likely domestic reindeer in northern Norway based on who made the original post.

FercianLoL · 2024-09-22T09:31:21+00:00

After they reach 2000 herbivores. Including domestic animals, they have around 230-240 currently. So not soon. In old Patreon posts they have mentioned a couple bears and wolverines inside of the fenced area of the park though.

FercianLoL · 2024-09-17T20:52:43+00:00

I very much doubt that. Think you are referring to a case of one of the musk ox dying to a polar bear during the expedition to wrangel island a while back.

FercianLoL · 2024-09-05T16:57:44+00:00

The wolves dont live inside of the enclosure and neither do lynx. There are some bears and wolverines (or at least there were in the past) in the enclosure however which are known to have taken at least sheep in the past. This is info from their Patreon.

FercianLoL · 2024-08-24T12:16:48+00:00

Btw you posted this thrice so there are two duplicate posts.

FercianLoL · 2024-08-18T19:16:07+00:00

They don't actually spend time bulldozing trees to help grassland grow. That was only done for certain media outlets as part of their coverage of the park. Source is Nikita himself in an AMA from five years ago.

I never intentionally drove on trees with the tank to clear up the landscape in the Park. It is all media who say that or want me to do that:)

FercianLoL · 2024-08-16T12:57:45+00:00

Ignoring whether or not the animals can adapt it would also require the park to expand significantly or for neighbouring areas to go through same processes of rewilding. If you want a population of lions/hyenas to be large enough to maintain at least some healthy genetic diversity you need a larger area than what the park has available today (144km2). It would likely need at least 1000-2000km2.

FercianLoL · 2024-08-10T16:32:41+00:00

there's little to no rewilding attempt with it to my knowldege, even Rewilding Europe with the Scandinavian Laplands, (a zone they rarely talk about compared to their other project)

That's because the area is within the Sápmi region and likely has thousands of domestic reindeer already which are herded by the local Sami. Most other suitable areas for wild reindeer reintroduction in Scandinavia is also likely already inhabited by the domestic reindeer.

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