We’re bringing back a literal blue antelope. From extinction. Because nature has range.
That’s right, today we’re officially announcing the bluebuck de-extinction project. 🦌 💙
More than 200 years ago, the bluebuck (Hippotragus leucophaeus), a silvery, slate-blue antelope native to South Africa, disappeared. Climate shifts had already squeezed its habitat after the last ice age. Then farming, livestock, and hunting delivered the final blow. By 1800, it was extinct.
We didn’t love that ending.
So we’re rewriting it. We’ve already built a high-quality genome and are now developing new assisted reproductive tools for antelope. Many of these have never been done before in antelope.
And that’s important because habitat fragmentation is isolating antelope across Africa. When herds are cut off, genetic diversity drops. The tools we’re building for bluebuck could one day help strengthen living populations and protect endangered ones.
This is de-extinction doing the work. 💪
🎥 Learn more in the full launch video on YouTube. Link in bio.
We’re Colossal Biosciences, the de-extinction company responsible for bringing back the first animals from extinction. Our dire wolf pups, Romulus and Remus, were born on October 1, 2024. Watch these pups grow up on our YouTube channel. Link in bio.
These two wolves were returned from extinction using genetic edits derived from a complete dire wolf genome, meticulously reconstructed from ancient DNA found in fossils dating back 11,500 and 72,000 years. This achievement is the result of years of pioneering science, tireless innovation, and unwavering dedication.
It marks a major milestone not only for our company, but for science, conservation, and humanity. With the birth of Romulus and Remus, de-extinction is no longer theory—it’s reality. There’s more work ahead, but this moment redefines what’s possible for the planet’s future.
Plague is one of the biggest threats to black-footed ferrets.
Introduced to North America in the early 1900s, this flea-borne disease can kill ferrets directly and wipe out prairie dogs, their main food source.
But domestic ferrets carry something black-footed ferrets don’t: resistance. If we can find the genes behind it, we could slightly edit black-footed ferrets to give them a real shot at surviving today.
The tools and technologies we develop for de-extinction help make projects like this possible.
A mammoth illustration with @colossal
Most mammoths disappeared around 10,000 years ago as the Ice Age ended.
Scientists think their extinction resulted from a combination of climate warming, habitat changes, and overhunting.
Luckily, because of the cold climate in Siberia, we have been able to find preserved hair, skin, stomach contents, and even traces of blood, giving scientists remarkable insight into their biology.
Another great source of information is also found in prehistoric cave art, including paintings in places like Chauvet Cave and Rouffignac Cave.
But the mammoth isn't just part of history; Colossal scientists are working to bring them back.
Give @colossal a follow for updates on mammoth de-extinction
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#colossal #extinct #animal #illustration #extinction
🙌 Huge conservation news: Colossal CEO @benlamm just joined the Board of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the most influential conservation organization in the United States. Follow and support their amazing work @nfwf
💙 Six specimens. That’s it.
Everything we know about the extinct bluebuck comes from fragments, a few skins, a handful of bones, and stories left behind.
It’s one of the great mysteries of extinct African megafauna.
The bluebuck (Hippotragus leucophaeus) was a silvery, slate-blue antelope, gone by around 1800 before we ever had the chance to truly understand it.
So now, we reverse-engineer the past.
Ancient DNA. Museum specimens. Historical drawings. Field notes. Modern genomics.
Piece by piece, we’re rebuilding what was lost.
Restoring genetic diversity.
Strengthening species that are still here.
Repairing ecosystems.
We don’t have much. But we have enough.
And eventually, we will crack the mystery.
And bring back the blue. 💙
For now, you can see it here.
@museumofevolution@naturhistoriska@nhmwien@naturalismuseum@le_museum
@colossal are back at it again! And this time they’re setting their sights and ambitions on returning a unique ungulate to one of the most floristically complex regions on Earth. Along the way, not only will they be working to restore what remains of its critically endangered habitat, but they’ll also be developing technologies that could be a huge help for today’s threatened extant antelopes too 🟦
💙 Blue isn’t what you think. Most “blue” in nature isn’t pigment, it’s physics, diet, or a clever trick of light. From flowers hacking chemistry to birds bending wavelengths, it’s one of the rarest colors on Earth. Which might be exactly why we’re obsessed with it.
For Mother’s Day, we called our moms and asked them a simple question: can you explain what we do in de-extinction?
We’re the world’s only de-extinction company, which means there’s no easy reference point for what this actually involves. It’s genome engineering, embryology, cryopreservation, assisted reproduction, computational biology, animal husbandry… and a whole lot more.
But we didn’t explain any of that. We just called them.
What do you think they said?
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there giving life.
We’ll be over here trying to protect it… even if explaining it is half the challenge.
We just announced we’re bringing the bluebuck back from extinction.
What’s that? It’s a furry blue antelope. Wild.
Humans drove the bluebuck to extinction over 200 years ago. And we don’t love that ending. So we’re rewriting it.
Blue flames burn hotter.
Follow for all the updates on the bluebuck de-extinction.
