Not literally. Colossal Biosciences says it is aiming for a first mammoth-like calf in 2028, but the animal it describes would be an Asian elephant engineered to show selected woolly-mammoth traits—not an original mammoth cloned from a living cell. The date is the company’s target, not an independently established prediction, and no mammoth-like calf is established by the reporting cited here.
What Colossal means by “bringing back” a mammoth
Colossal describes its goal as creating “a cold-resistant elephant with all of the core biological traits of the woolly mammoth.” Its proposed animal would have an elephant genetic background, with selected edits intended to produce traits associated with mammoths, such as long hair, fat deposits and compact ears. The aim is a mammoth-like proxy, not genetic recovery of an extinct animal in its original form.
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Colossal chief science officer Beth Shapiro has described the planned animals as “elephant surrogates that have some mammoth DNA to make them re-create core characteristics belonging to mammoths.” Shapiro’s position is that the defining traits justify calling them mammoths; that is one view in a debate over what “de-extinction” means, not a settled scientific or public definition.
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The distinction is practical as well as semantic: the proposal starts with elephants and edits selected genes, rather than cloning a mammoth from intact living mammoth cells. Preston of the University of Montana, quoted by the Associated Press, put the counterargument this way: “You might be able to alter the hair pattern of an Asian elephant or adapt it to the cold, but it’s not bringing back a woolly mammoth. It’s changing an Asian elephant.”
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| Question | Literal resurrection | Colossal’s proposed approach |
|---|---|---|
| Genetic identity | An original mammoth genome recovered from living cells | An elephant genome with selected mammoth-associated edits |
| Demonstrated stage | A living mammoth | Company-reported work in mice and elephant stem cells; no mammoth-like calf established in the cited reporting |
| Ecological result | Not applicable to a project that has not recreated the animal | Habitat resilience and ecosystem restoration are stated goals; effects of a released animal are not established |
What the 2028 date actually means
Colossal has publicly set 2028 as a goal for a first mammoth-project birth. TIME reported the company said it had edited 25 of a planned 85 genes and was targeting embryos ready for implantation by the end of 2026. In April 2026, Axios reported CEO Ben Lamm still described a first birth in 2028 as on track and said embryo transfer into elephants would be the next stage. Those are company progress claims and plans reported by those outlets; they do not establish that an embryo transfer, pregnancy or birth has succeeded.
The reviewed reporting does not provide a neutral, independently published probability that a mammoth-like calf will be born by 2028. Treat the year as a deadline the company is working toward, not a confirmed arrival date.
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How the proposed process would work
Colossal’s project description outlines a sequence from genetic analysis to a possible elephant pregnancy. It is a plan, not evidence that each step has been completed successfully.
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- Edit elephant cells: introduce selected edits intended to produce those traits and check that the edits are present.
- Test in cells and animal models: assess whether the edits produce intended effects before attempting reproduction.
- Attempt reproduction: the company’s proposed path involves nuclear transfer, fertilization and implantation of an embryo into an elephant surrogate.
- Allow gestation: Colossal’s project page states elephant gestation is 22 months. That duration makes embryo readiness and the timing of any resulting birth distinct milestones.
A target date for embryo implantation is not the same as a pregnancy, and a pregnancy is not a birth. The proposed path depends on every stage working, including safe development and gestation in an elephant.
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What the reported research demonstrates—and what it does not
Woolly mice are a model, not mammoth calves
Colossal says its woolly-mouse experiments produced 38 pups after nine targeted gene edits, with the company reporting coat and fat-metabolism traits in all 38. That is a company account of a mouse experiment. Mice can help test parts of an editing approach, but the result does not show that edited elephant embryos will develop safely or that a mammoth-like calf has been born.
Elephant-cell research is an enabling step
Colossal’s research bibliography lists a 2026 multiplex genome-editing paper and work deriving Asian elephant induced pluripotent stem cells in 2026. The woolly-mouse work first appeared as a 2025 preprint and was later published in Cell Reports Methods in 2026, according to the company bibliography. These are relevant technical developments; none is equivalent to demonstrating a successful elephant embryo, pregnancy or birth.
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Why a successful edit could still create problems
Editing a gene for one desired feature does not guarantee that it affects only that feature. Alison van Eenennaam, a professor of animal biotechnology and genetics at the University of California, Davis, told TIME: “There’s a phenomenon called pleiotropy in which one gene has an effect on more than one trait.” She noted that edits selected for a particular trait could also have effects incompatible with survival. Testing intended traits is therefore not the same as establishing that a whole animal would be healthy.
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The reproductive plan also raises animal-welfare and regulatory questions. It involves elephant cells and eggs and, in the proposed pathway, an elephant surrogate carrying a pregnancy. The Associated Press noted that Asian elephants are endangered and that the company would face regulatory processes and red tape before moving ahead. A technically possible edit would not by itself resolve whether the reproductive work is safe or permissible.
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Would a mammoth-like elephant restore an ecosystem?
Colossal says the project could contribute to habitat resilience and ecosystem restoration. That is a stated goal, not a measured outcome. Axios has reported concerns from critics about ecological risks, and the cited sources do not establish that an engineered animal has been released or show what its effects would be in an ecosystem.
Any ecological case would depend on more than resemblance to a mammoth: it would require evidence about the animal’s behavior, welfare, habitat, interactions with other species and effects over time. The proposal has not yet demonstrated those outcomes.
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