Scientists Cloning Extinct Tasmanian Tigers

Added: 2026-06-05

[00:00:00]Tasmanian tigers went extinct in [music] 1936 when the last one died at Hobart Zoo. But scientists are now working to bring them back [music] through cloning technology. Colossal Biosciences extracted complete DNA from a 108-years-old [music] preserved thylacine pup specimen held in a Melbourne museum collection. The project [music] plans to edit the genome of a close living relative, the fat-tailed Dunnart, to recreate Tasmanian tiger genetic traits. [music] Thylacines could open their jaws 120° wider than almost any other mammal and had unique striped backs [music] like tigers, but were actually marsupials.

[00:00:37]These carnivorous marsupials hunted across Tasmania and mainland [music] Australia for over 4 million years before European settlers wiped them out in [music] just 130 years. Baby Tasmanian tigers crawled into their mother's pouch after birth and stayed attached [music] for months, just like koalas and kangaroos do.