How the 'Dr Dolittle of dinos' plans to resurrect woolly mammoths

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Via redbull.com by Ally Koehler

If scientist Ben Novak has his way, the phrase ‘dead as a dodo’ will soon need a rethink. Discover how he’s bringing extinct species back to life, and why it’s nothing like Jurassic Park.

At age 14 Ben Novak thought 'if people can reintroduce wolves to Yellowstone National Park, then bringing completely extinct species back to life is surely the logical next step'. It’s really no surprise then, that he’s now doing just that – starting with the long-lost North American passenger pigeon in an Australian Monash University lab.

But how did he find himself here? And what’s the science behind the science fiction?

As a child who loved animals more than people, Novak consumed animal factoids and zoology books like they were air and water before even starting school: “I wanted to be a conservationist at age eight,” he recalls. “Though that was a big internal conflict for me, as I also wanted to be a paleontologist”.

It was a classic primary school conundrum – until he discovered de-extinction. After reading Tim Flannery and Peter Schouten’s book, ‘A Gap in Nature’ at age 14, Novak found his niche.

“I saw the developments of human genome sequencing initiatives and engineering, and felt that the technology would eventually catch up. I thought someone should prepare for when that happens by studying extinction and its effects on ecosystems, and figuring out the biology of extinct species.”


Much sooner than anticipated, the technology did evolve. Novak took on a role at California-based genetic rescue start-up, Revive and Restore, and is now using revolutionary CRISPR-Cas9 technology to create a ‘genome-editing-ready’ bird as part of his PhD. Acting like a pair of molecular scissors, the tech is widely celebrated for bringing a far cheaper and much more precise cut and paste approach to editing DNA.

“We’ll use these birds to discover the main passenger pigeon genes, which will eventually form the recipe for recreating the passenger pigeon,” Novak explains, “We also hope these pigeons will establish a model system for avian research all over the globe.”

After the passenger pigeon? Novak’s sights are set on reanimating the infamously dead dodo. But could we really see larger animals like the woolly mammoth walk the earth once more?

Novak says 'yes', but it does depend on your definition. Creatures brought back from extinction will never be exactly the same. However, Revive and Restore are involved in work already underway at Harvard University to resurrect the next best thing.

“For many scientific reasons,” he tells us, “the new woolly mammoth will be just that – new. This is true for any de-extinction in which a species is genetically engineered.

“The result is a kind of selectively-bred hybrid between the extinct species (in this case an Asian elephant) and a living one. In this new species, the genetics of the extinct species lives on in a small legacy, while its role in nature resumes, adapting to the ever-changing world. If this suffices as a woolly mammoth – seeing a woolly, cold-adapted proboscidean wandering the steppes of Siberia – then yeah,” Novak concludes, “We'll definitely be seeing the woolly mammoth again one day soon.”

Finally, that whole Jurassic Park thing? We’re assured it’s a non-issue. You can’t source DNA from dino-bones, or bugs encased in stone. And because people caused the extinction of over 5 billion passenger pigeons in just 50 years, Novak says it’s unlikely we’ll be overrun or threatened when these animals return. In fact, he says, while there will always be some unknowns, “bringing back extinct species, when done with the proper foresight and management, usually transforms the ecosystem for the better.”

“Technology isn’t just a means of consuming the Earth, but also a means of replenishing it,” Novak says. “After 20 years of wolves in Yellowstone, we’re seeing cascading benefits to the ecosystem, including the return of beavers that were also locally extinct – and they’re creating habitats for other species.”

It’s a mammoth undertaking, but with people like Novak in the lab, this pioneering science could just change our world.

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