Colossal Biotech Launches De-Extinction Project for Extinct Bluebuck Antelope

Dallas-based genetics and biotech startup Colossal announced its latest de-extinction project in April 2026, focusing on the bluebuck, a South African antelope species that went extinct around 1800. The Verge reported that the initiative includes technologies for facilitating reproduction and a technique for collecting and aspirating oocytes from live animals.

Colossal CEO Ben Lamm stated that the technology developed for the project can already be used in conservation efforts and will be made available as a resource outside the company.

Lamm described the oocyte harvesting procedure as 'ovum pickup,' where researchers use an ultrasound and a needle to go into a live animal’s ovary and flush out the eggs. The project builds on Colossal's previous efforts, including the presentation of dire wolf pups in 2025, which were gray wolves spliced with a few genetic traits to resemble dire wolves.

The company's de-extinction projects aim to bring back lost animals such as the woolly mammoth, the Tasmanian tiger, and the dire wolf.

Colossal has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from venture capitalists, the CIA, and Peter Thiel, among others. Ecologist Douglas McCauley, who co-authored an editorial about Colossal’s dire wolf project in Time magazine in 2025, stated that he stands by his assessment of that initiative.

He expressed concerns that such projects could draw attention away from efforts to save critically endangered species that still exist.

In response, Lamm stated, 'We don’t think that education and excitement around ‘de-extinction’ [are] diametrically opposed to saving species. The Verge reported that Colossal has a global biobanking initiative aimed at preserving the genetic records of existing at-risk species.

McCauley stated that Colossal’s policy of making its genomes and technologies available for conservation efforts is a really great best practice.

Colossal's focus on the bluebuck represents an adjustment in its public strategy, following criticisms of earlier projects like the dire wolf announcement. The technologies emphasize versatile techniques with applications beyond de-extinction, such as in antelope conservation where about 30 percent of species face extinction threats.

Lamm highlighted the company's aim to develop an end-to-end synthetic biology pipeline hardened on difficult use cases.

McCauley noted the potential of the ovum pickup technique for harvesting eggs from living animals in preservation efforts. He described it as a useful, exportable technology that could be applied before a species goes extinct. The biobanking effort, according to Colossal, seeks to create repositories of genetic material for future scientific use, with McCauley stating that the more such repositories exist, the better.

Lamm argued that de-extinction projects serve as a way to attract attention and funding to broader conservation and science goals. ’' McCauley remained skeptical, stating that he views the approach as creating more distraction than constructive attention. The bluebuck project underscores Colossal's dual emphasis on reviving extinct species and advancing tools for current conservation challenges.

The company's open-sourcing policy applies to all technologies with conservation relevance, as Lamm confirmed. This initiative follows the 2025 dire wolf presentation, which drew intensified criticism for potentially diverting resources from pressing extinction issues.