Biotech firm says it can resurrect extinct woolly mammoth

A technology entrepreneur and a geneticist on Monday launched a new biotech firm which they say will bring the extinct woolly mammoth back to life.

What do we know about the project?

Calling itself Colossal, the biosciences company claims CRISPR genetic technology can be used to bring back the animal, which went extinct during the Holocene epoch over 11,000 years ago.

"Never before has humanity been able to harness the power of this technology to rebuild ecosystems, heal our Earth and preserve its future through the repopulation of extinct animals," technology entrepreneur and Colossal co-founder Ben Lamm said in a statement.

Harvard University geneticist George Church is also a co-founder of the company.

"Colossal leverages the exponential progress made in technologies for reading and writing DNA and applies it to iconic ecological conservation and carbon sequestration issues," Church said.

Scientists have managed to find mammoth tusks, bones and other material to try to sequence the animal's DNA. This DNA would then be inserted into the genome of the Asian elephant to form an "elephant-mammoth hybrid," according to the company.