Extinct bluebuck antelope being brought back to life
( NewsNation ) — A species of antelope is set to return to life .
Around 1800, the bluebuck antelope went extinct after European colonizers hunted the African animal until there were none remaining.
Colossal Biosciences is working on bringing the bluebuck back. It is the sixth lost animal the firm is working on, after reviving the dire wolf.
The company’s Chief Animal Officer, Matt James, joined “ Elizabeth Vargas Reports ” to discuss their process.
“We work really closely with an amazing advisor, Michael Hofrieter at the University of Potsdam, and he did a great job of getting some DNA from a museum specimen that we were able to then sequence,” James told NewsNation.
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“We actually got an amazing genome with 40X coverage. So that means we were able to read the DNA 40 different times.”
Clossal Biosciences revealed their goal is to release the bluebuck back into the African wild.
“We owe it to the bluebuck and to our Southern Africa ecosystem to bring this species back,” James said.
“Our goal with our de-extinction projects is to restore species back to the wild so that they can restore the lost function that they provided to their ecosystem,” he added.
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