Colossal and the US government create an endangered species “BioVault”

US government It is partnering with a Texas-based de-extinction company Phenomenal biological science To build a national repository of genetic materials from endangered species. These efforts come as the Trump administration moves to weaken protections for endangered species, including a recent decision to waive them to expand offshore oil and gas drilling.

In collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, scientists aim to collect cells, reproductive tissues and DNA from more than 2,300 species of plants and animals in the United States and around the world protected under the Endangered Species Act. The samples will be cryopreserved and stored at the Colossal laboratory in Dallas, with duplicate samples distributed throughout the country.

The company claimed last year that it owned it I created living wolf pupsHe will perform genetic sequencing on the samples and make the data available to researchers and conservationists. Under the partnership, the federal government will own the samples.

“We want to back up as many species samples as possible,” says Ben Lamm, Colossal CEO and co-founder.

Colossal provides collection kits so its partners in the field can take blood, skin and other tissue samples. Lam says the assembly process has already begun.

“This collaboration combines the scientific expertise of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with the ingenuity of the private sector to develop new tools that can help recover species, conserve vital genetic resources, and advance the future of wildlife conservation,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says in a statement. (Fish and Wildlife, part of the Interior Department, did not respond to a request for further details about the partnership.)

In theory, the specimens could be used to save species that were on the verge of extinction. The Fish and Wildlife Service did just that when it cloned the black-footed ferret — one of North America’s most endangered mammals — using cryopreserved cells from a ferret that died in the 1980s. Announced in 2021, the operation was the first case of cloning an endangered species in the United States. The Frozen Zoo at the Wildlife Alliance at the San Diego Zoo provided the specimen for this work.

Under the Trump administration, Fish and Wildlife has proposed major changes to the 1973 Endangered Species Act, which could roll back protections for endangered plants and animals. the Proposed changes It would take into account economic and national security considerations when determining protected habitat and remove the “blanket rule” that automatically gives threatened species the same strict protections as endangered species.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump formed the so-called God Squad — a group of senior administration officials that included Burgum — to consider whether to bypass endangered species protections in the Gulf of Mexico. The group, which has met only a few times since the Endangered Species Act was created, decided to grant exemptions for oil and gas exploration in the area. (Environmental scientists File a lawsuit against the administration On the decision.)

The new initiative with Colossal is consistent with the administration’s position on conservation, in part because it does not conflict with industry interests, says Noah Greenwald, director of endangered species at the Center for Biological Diversity, an Arizona-based nonprofit.

“This is not biodiversity conservation,” he says. “This is a last-ditch effort. We will only need this genetic material if management fails to recover the endangered species.”

The Center for Biological Diversity has criticized proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act. Greenwald says conservation efforts should instead focus on protecting public lands such as national parks and wilderness areas to prevent species loss. Even if extinct or endangered species can be brought back using technology, there must be habitat remaining to support those species, he says.