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The economics of reviving extinct animals

A story that breaks down the economics of de-extinction. A story that breaks down the economics of de-extinction.

In today’s Finshots, we explain why an American biotechnology company revived extinct dire wolves and whether it’s worth it.

The Story

How would you feel if something that died over 12,000 years ago suddenly came back to life?

Well… it sort of has. Or at least, something close enough to it, that no one in history has ever pulled off before.

Scientists at an American biotech company called Colossal Biosciences have almost revived the dire wolf, one of the most successful Ice Age predators that vanished after losing much of its prey, most likely thanks to human hunting.

Sidebar: You’re probably familiar with these majestic, powerful white creatures if you’ve watched Game of Thrones.

Now, when we say “almost revived”, it’s because this isn’t exactly the same animal coming back. Even though it’s been marketed as ‘de-extinction’, what the scientists have actually done is a bit different. They’ve used a cutting edge gene editing tool called CRISPR to modify the DNA of modern grey wolves. Then pieced together a full dire wolf genome using ancient DNA dug up from fossils that had been sitting in the earth for thousands of years. And finally, implanted these embryos into surrogate dogs.

What’s interesting here is that dire wolves and grey wolves aren’t even close cousins. They split apart on the evolutionary tree somewhere between 2.5 to 6 million years ago. So yeah, these new pups, named Remus, Romulus and Khaleesi (because of course), are about 99.5% genetically identical to the original dire wolves.

And since that’s close enough, we’ll just call it de-extinction for now.

But why even do this, you ask?

In simple terms, it’s about saving the planet. Every year, around 30,000 species quietly disappear. And even if you don’t notice it, the consequences are huge. Over half of the world’s economy or about $44 trillion relies on nature for food, raw materials, fuel and more. So when we lose species, we’re not just losing biodiversity; we’re losing the natural services that power economies, which could cost the global economy more than $5 trillion every single year.

To put it in starker terms, in the words of Dr. Jill Atkins and Barry Atkins, who wrote Around the World in 80 Species,

Extinction, at its current rate, will ensure that financial markets will collapse, which will happen shortly before extinction of the human race if no urgent action is taken.

So yeah, preserving what’s left matters. And one way to learn how, is by bringing back what’s already gone. By studying revived species, scientists can pinpoint the exact genes responsible for traits that help animals survive in tough environments. That knowledge might give us clues to help endangered species adapt to a rapidly changing climate.

Not just that. Releasing genetically engineered animals like woolly mammoths back into the wild could even slow down climate change. We know that sounds crazy, but mammoths could help preserve the rapidly melting permafrost in the Arctic by trampling down snow and encouraging grasslands to grow (we’ve written about it here). That’s also why Colossal isn’t stopping with dire wolves or mammoths. They’re eyeing other long-lost creatures like the Tasmanian tiger and the dodo too.

But here’s the thing. Everything we’ve talked about so far is a business pitch Colossal has built around this whole idea of de-extinction. It makes it sound like a win for the planet. And it’s clearly working. Venture capitalists seem to be sold on the dream, valuing the company at a jaw-dropping $10.2 billion!

But our question is — is this really worth the money?

Let’s think this through. Some of the species Colossal wants to revive might eventually be rewilded. The dire wolves, for instance, won’t be released into the wild. They’ll stay inside a 2,000 acre preserve with round the clock care, and for now, they won’t be allowed to breed either. But for other species, like the red wolf or the woolly mammoth, Colossal hopes to eventually let them roam free.

And when those animal populations grow, guess who’ll foot the bill? Regional governments. The same ones already struggling to fund existing conservation projects. For perspective, the world currently spends just 17% of the $824 billion needed each year for biodiversity conservation. Which means we’re already 83% short.

And researchers are worried about this too. A study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, a peer reviewed scientific journal, dug into what it would actually cost to look after resurrected animals. They used data from New South Wales, Australia and New Zealand, which carefully track conservation costs for endangered species, and applied those numbers to de-extinct animals. For example, looking after a woolly mammoth would likely cost as much as caring for an endangered Asian elephant.

But these estimates don’t include the massive up-front costs of bringing these animals back in the first place. So, even on paper, it’s a grim picture.

The researchers even mapped out two scenarios — one where the government takes on the responsibility, and another where private companies sponsor it. In the first case, pulling money from existing conservation budgets to fund these de-extinct creatures would actually reduce overall biodiversity. In fact, for every species revived, about two existing ones could go extinct because of underfunding!

And this would only make an already skewed system worse. If you didn’t know, most of the world’s conservation money goes towards bigger, more ‘charismatic’ animals. And because of that, many equally important animals and plants get left behind. To give you an idea, even within the vertebrate family, a staggering 85% of resources go to birds and mammals, while poor amphibians get just 3% of the funding. So imagine how lopsided it might get once woolly mammoths and dire wolves start grabbing the spotlight.

Also, economics aside, ecosystems have evolved without these animals. So it’s unclear whether they’ll thrive in today’s world or upset the delicate balance of species already there. A study in Scientific Reports, another peer reviewed journal on natural sciences, tried to estimate how many woolly mammoths the modern Arctic could actually handle. The answer was between 48,000 to 72,000, which is still an optimistic upper limit. But even if numbers stay lower, there’s still a risk of them clashing with species like caribou and muskoxen for food or simply struggling to cope with a world they no longer recognise.

And that feels a bit like going around your elbow to get to your mouth. If current conservation projects get neglected in favour of flashy de-extinction ones, we might end up worsening biodiversity loss and the economic crisis it fuels.

But for Colossal, it’s not just about saving nature. It’s business. They could be making billions by bringing back long-lost animals and calling it conservation. If Colossal manages to successfully resurrect and reintroduce any of these species into the wild, they’re hoping to cash in by selling biodiversity credits, a market based system kind of like carbon credits, where companies or countries pay for actions that help balance out environmental damage.

On top of that, government partnerships could open up another money making avenue. Right now, Colossal offers its conservation technology to governments for free. But with some countries already reaching out for help to save their endangered species, it’s not hard to imagine a future where those services come with a price tag.

Would Colossal make the same billions by focusing only on saving the species we already have? Probably not.

So yeah, while it’s undeniably cool, this whole de-extinction thing might be playing a dangerous game with nature and money. And we might need to take a cautionary lesson from Jurassic Park, the movie that warned us about this very thing decades ago.

Until next time…

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