Ecology teaches us that everything is interconnected and interdependent. Biodiversity promotes ecosystem resilience and critical planetary functions such as carbon sequestration, air and water purification, and food security. Yet these truths are often disregarded, as evidenced by the over 42,000 species considered endangered and up to 150 going extinct every day.
Endangered Species Day — the third Friday of May — reminds us of the importance of biodiversity and our obligation to protect the planet. This year, Colossal Biosciences is illustrating how widespread conservation can be achieved by embracing collaboration, long-term planning, and technological innovation.
Colossal has previously worked with institutions such as the University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Melbourne, and Mauritian Wildlife Foundation to revive extinct species including the woolly mammoth, Tasmanian tiger, and dodo bird. Now, the company has partnered with the ecosystem restoration organization Re:wild to develop a 10-year conservation plan focused on safeguarding species from extinction, rediscovering species considered lost, and restoring habitats crucial to maintaining biodiversity.
This partnership will combine Colossal’s foundational biotechnology toolkit with Re:wild’s unparalleled network of global conservation experts. This will ensure that long-lasting protection and rewilding of endangered species and habitats follows international best practices.
“This partnership represents the next step in building Colossal’s conservation technologies into a revolutionary tool in the fight against biodiversity loss,” said Matt James, Colossal’s chief animal officer. “Merging Colossal and Re:wild’s collective conservation efforts, while bringing our scientific expertise to more of their projects, will greatly expand the reach of our technology and help to ensure we can save as many species as possible.”
Both companies are committed to saving vital species on the brink of extinction, such as the Asian elephant, African forest elephant, African savanna elephant, northern white rhino, Sumatran rhino, pink pigeon, Victorian grassland earless dragon, and the Tasmanian devil. A closer look at the irreplaceable ecological benefits that two of these animals provide highlights the undeniable benefits of endangered species conservation.
Elephants: The Embodiment of Environmental Enhancement
Given their status as the largest land mammals, elephants have an oversized impact on their ecosystems. Wild African elephants are known for their insatiable appetite and unbridled grazing habits, eating about 300 pounds of fruits, roots, and grasses daily while traveling in herds for upwards of 40 miles. This has caused the species to take on the role of an ecosystem engineer, germinating and dispersing seeds 30 times farther than birds of the savanna and promoting the growth of carbon-dense trees particularly effective at carbon sequestration.
“Elephants are the gardeners of the forest,” said Stephen Blake, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Saint Louis University who is studying the impact of African elephants on the ecosystem. “They plant the forest with high carbon density trees and they get rid of the ‘weeds,’ which are the low carbon density trees. They do a tremendous amount of work maintaining the diversity of the forest.”
In maintaining this forest diversity, elephants not only create habitats, niches, and pathways essential to local wildlife, but also provide ecosystem benefits that would otherwise cost over $1.75 million per individual. When considering an elephant’s impact on community well-being, such as its effects on ecotourism, an individual African elephant is expected to generate $25 million in value throughout its lifetime.
Despite their importance, elephants are threatened by factors such as habitat loss, ivory poaching, human conflict, and disease. Today, there are fewer than 500,000 elephants among all three African species, with less than one-tenth being the Asian variety.
As part of its partnership with Re:wild, Colossal will continue its elephant conservation work, including developing a vaccine against the deadly endotheliotropic herpesviruses and leveraging artificial intelligence to determine the best method for reintroducing orphaned elephants to the wild.
Tasmanian Devil: Tenacious Treasures of the Australian Island State
The Tasmanian devil is more than a Looney Tunes character. This carnivorous marsupial is considered the apex predator of its habitat on the Australian island state. By outcompeting for food, the Tasmanian devil controls harmful invasive species like feral cats, foxes, and black rats. That allows small mammals such as the bandicoot to recover and enrich the ecosystem with seed dispersals.
As a scavenger, the Tasmanian devil is also crucial in removing carcasses from an area, contributing to nutrient cycling, and removing food that an invasive species would otherwise eat to increase its populations. By burying its leaf litter, Tasmanian devils also help to buffer wildfires and reduce their intensity.
While the Tasmanian devil has been protected by the Australian government since 1941, the species continues to see extreme population declines driven almost entirely by the proliferation of the contagious and deadly devil facial tumor disease. DFTD causes facial and neck tumors that are almost always fatal. Since the first case of DFTD was observed in 1996, the species has experienced declines of 60% to 90%.
In addition to assisting Re:wild with its ongoing efforts to reintroduce the species to its former habitats throughout mainland Australia, Colossal is working to perfect its artificial “exo pouch” technology to assist breeding programs for the Tasmanian devil and other endangered marsupials.
Endangered Species Day and the Colossal Commitment to Re:wild-ing
Endangered Species Day reminds us of the crucial role endangered species have in maintaining ecosystem functions and resilience. The Colossal and Re:wild partnership exemplifies a commitment to safeguarding biodiversity in the face of mass extinctions.
“I have dedicated my career to protecting and recovering species that may be down to their last few individuals,” said Barney Long, Re:wild’s senior director of conservation strategies. “The possibilities that Colossal’s technology opens up for critically endangered species and ecosystems is game-changing.”
Long concluded: “For some critically endangered species, this technology may be the last best hope for their survival. For many others, this technology may be the difference between merely surviving and actually thriving.”
