Colossal Adds Bluebuck to De-Extinction Portfolio

Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based biotechnology company, announced Thursday that it has added the bluebuck antelope to its de-extinction portfolio, marking the sixth species targeted for revival through genetic engineering.

The bluebuck, known for its silvery slate-blue coat, white facial markings, and backward-curving black horns up to 22 inches long, stood about four feet tall at the shoulder. Native to the coastal grasslands of South Africa's southwestern Cape region, it became the first large mammal in modern history to go extinct, vanishing around 1800 after European settlers hunted it intensively for its unique hide. The species disappeared just 34 years after its first scientific documentation.

Colossal plans to resurrect the bluebuck by editing the genome of the roan antelope, its closest living relative with more than 98 percent genetic similarity. Scientists have reconstructed the bluebuck's genome using DNA from a preserved young male specimen at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm. They have created induced pluripotent stem cells from roan antelope cells, enabling the introduction of key bluebuck traits such as its coat color, smaller size, and...