The Guardian view on de-extinction: Jurassic Park may be becoming reality

^{"tasmanian tiger" by nicolas.boullosa is licensed under CC BY 2.0.}

The last official sighting of a Tasmanian tiger in the wild occurred in 1930, when it was shot by a farmer. The marsupials, formally known as thylacines, were hunted to extinction by European settlers who considered them a threat to their sheep and poultry. However, the 6ft-long creatures may reappear if a group of biotechnologists have their way.

The company Colossal Biosciences, along with researchers from the University of Melbourne, plans to “de-extinct” the thylacine by using gene-editing technology. Australia has the fastest rate of mammal extinction in the world; disappearances are down to the arrival of foreign species and wildfires linked to the climate crisis. Scientists argue that in Tasmania the loss of the thylacine left the numbers of smaller marsupials unchecked, leading to over-grazing and threatening a fragile ecological balance.

If it all sounds like a plot line from Jurassic Park, then that is because the science behind the resurrection plan provided the movie’s inspiration. Last year Colossal, co-founded by a Harvard geneticist, raised...