It might seem like Jurassic Park-type stuff, but it’s happening. The Woolly Mammoth is making a comeback! It’s surreal to think that scientists are working diligently now to bring back a majestic animal that went extinct thousands of years ago. Colossal, a biotech company, is on track to bring a baby Woolly Mammoth into the world in about four years. Although the prospect of this may seem cool and exciting, what are the implications of the rebirth of an ancient species on future ecosystems and the planet itself?

Potential Drawbacks of De-extinction

One potential problem with bringing back Woolly Mammoths is that we don’t know how they’d fare in our current climate and world. When speaking about this issue, Professor Paul Knoeplfer, from The Niche, says, “Our current world is not their world. The weather is different and warmer than mammoths are used to.” Paul Knoeplfer has a PhD in biology and teaches cell biology and anatomy at the Davis School of Medicine in California.

If the first mammoths brought back aren’t well adjusted to the climate today, they could all die out. We don’t know how well they would adapt, so a massive failure could occur if this isn’t taken into consideration.

Along with this, who knows how tundra ecosystems would change with mammoths introduced? Nature is unpredictable; it would be hard to foresee what would occur if these behemoths were brought back to the tundra. However, scientists can foresee one potential positive effect of bringing back Woolly Mammoths.

They could…help fight climate change??!

Scientists aren’t just resurrecting mammoths because it’s cool. Apparently, the re-introduction of mammoths could help halt the process of climate change. According to Colossal CEO Ben Lamm, “[Mammoths] could actually lower the temperature of the permafrost anywhere from half a degree to anywhere up to 10 degrees.” Mammoths would knock down trees, which might seem counterintuitive, but this would create more grassland spots. Grasslands store carbon dioxide very well, and mammoths would further pack in snow, serving as an insulator for the carbon. With the carbon embedded in snow, fewer greenhouse gasses would be emitted into the atmosphere. Climate change occurs as a result of these gasses reaching the atmosphere, so this would possibly provide a solution to that. Because of this, one could interpret the resurrection of mammoths as both a breakthrough in genetic science and a new approach to solving climate change.

There’s No Going Back

The remarkable genetic tools of the modern day that allow ancient creatures to be brought back are here to stay. We can’t go back with the technology we’ve developed, so it may be redundant to ponder whether or not we should do it. The train has left the station. For the future, scientists have to make sure that they keep an eye on whatever positive or negative effects that genetic resurrection brings. Let’s hope the resurrection of Woolly Mammoths yields more positives than negatives.