This informal dialogue contextualises and explores contemporary practices of nonhuman animal gene-modification in de-extinction projects. Looking at recent developments in biotechnology’s role in de-extinction sciences and industries, these interdisciplinary scholars scrutinise the neoliberal impetus driving ‘species revivalism’ in the wake of the Capitalocene. Critical examinations of species integrity, cryo-preservation, techno-optimism, rewilding initiatives and projects aimed at restoring extinct animals such as the woolly mammoth and bucardo are used to map some of the necessary restructuring of conservation policies and enterprises that could secure viably sustainable – and just – futures for nonhuman animals at risk of extinction. The authors question what alternatives are being ignored in the wake of technoscientific responses to the climate emergency, and interpret the motivations, tactics and tools responsible for commodifying nonhuman animals down to the cellular l
Around the last ice age, the woolly mammoth began to disappear from the East Asian tundra. Scientists disagree on whether overhunting by our ancestors or climate change led to its final extinction. However, even though small populations survived as recently as 4,000 years ago, the time of this fur.
Geneticists and conservationists have joined forces to re-introduce the Dodo, extinct since the late 17th century, to its once native habitat in the island of Mauritius. How is this being planned, and perhaps even more interestingly, why?
The billion-dollar genetics company Colossal Biosciences has announced its partnership with the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation to bring the extinct dodo back to the country.
When brought back to the world, the Dodo will still be under threat from other animals and will need a habitat where it can sustain and grow to large numbers.