Colossal Biosciences

🐦 The last time a sihek (Todiramphus cinnamominus) hunted in the wild, Die Hard was in theaters.   For nearly 40 years, every single member of the species lived behind fences. Every sihek alive today was born in a zoo.   Then, in 2024, nine sihek were released onto a remote Pacific island.   Nobody knew exactly what would happen.   The birds immediately started hunting, exploring, establishing territories, and even laying eggs, the first wild sihek eggs in nearly four decades.   Turns out, 40 years in captivity wasn’t enough to erase thousands of years of evolution.   The sihek isn’t home yet. But after nearly 40 years, it’s finally getting its sequel.   And this fall, with funding from the Colossal Species Reintroduction Fund, The Nature Conservancy will release nine more.   Because hope is never extinct. Just ask John McClane.

The collab you never knew you needed 🦖🐶 Colossal joined forces with the pups at PAW Patrol (Spin Master) to inspire the next generation of conservationists by educating them about the importance of saving endangered species. Combatting the biodiversity crisis requires protectors of all ages and we’re excited to be onboard for the latest mission. 🔗 Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/e_UmDtYQ

🐉 This dragon doesn’t have wings. It lives in the clouds.   The Campbell’s alligator lizard (Abronia campbelli) is one of the rarest reptiles on Earth. Once feared, then thought lost, it now survives in a tiny patch of Guatemalan cloud forest roughly the size of Central Park.   That’s why the Colossal Species Reintroduction Fund is giving financial support to Fundación para las Especies Amenazadas de Guatemala -FUNDESGUA- effort to create protected habitat for this Critically Endangered species.   If you’d like to help keep this dragon’s story going, consider supporting Fundación para las Especies Amenazadas de Guatemala -FUNDESGUA- and their conservation work.   Because a dragon doesn’t need a kingdom.   Just enough forest to keep the legend alive.

Some of these look fake. They’re not.   Antelope horns are living structures, bone on the inside, keratin on the outside. And they grow slowly, year after year.   They don’t shed. They don’t reset.   And they come in so many styles and functions. Curved for ramming. Straight for stabbing. Spiral for locking in combat.   These beautiful appendages are a lot more than just style. They’re survival, designed down to the last detail.

🐂 The banteng (Bos javanicus) didn’t become nocturnal because it wanted to. It became nocturnal because humans made the daytime dangerous. Over the last two decades, this beautiful wild cattle species has declined by roughly 80%, pushed to the brink by habitat loss, hunting, and competition with livestock. In Cambodia, historically a stronghold, fewer than 1,000 individuals likely remain, surviving in small, isolated forest patches. That’s why Colossal’s Species Reintroduction Fund is supporting the efforts of Rising Phoenix Co. Ltd. to move banteng from these shrinking forests to the protected Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary. Because a species shouldn’t have to disappear into the dark just to survive.

🐦 If your mental image of a pigeon is a gray bird fighting for half a hot dog, you need to see this.   Some pigeons look like parrots. Some look like royalty. One is the dodo’s closest living relative. And one was bred to wear such an outrageous feather hood that it can’t even see its own eggs.   Nature went way harder on pigeons than most people realize.

🐾 A ranch dog once brought home a dead animal.   Normally, that would be bad news.   Instead, it helped save the black-footed ferret.   After being declared extinct twice, the species was rediscovered when a dog named Shep carried a ferret home.    At one point, just 18 ferrets remained. Today, thousands exist.   And more are coming. This year, with support from the Colossal Species Reintroduction Fund, the Turner Endangered Species Fund is helping write the next chapter by reintroducing black-footed ferrets to South Dakota.   Because extinction isn’t always the end of the story.   👉Follow for updates, and support the TESF for all their amazing work. 

Paleogenomics research is revealing the complex history of bison, overturning assumptions about the ubiquity of cattle ancestry and showing that their decline did not markedly affect genetic diversity, although it has increased population fragmentation. Learn more this week in Science: https://scim.ag/4hQz3xh

🎓 Meet the SRF Class of 2026.    Bizarre. Beautiful. And coming back.     One was rediscovered by a ranch dog. One can grow 24 arms.  One doesn't fly, but literally lives in the clouds.   Every year, the Colossal Foundation's Species Reintroduction Fund puts $250,000 behind some of the most critical species reintroduction projects on Earth. This year, nearly $5 million in applications came in from conservation organizations around the world. 🤯   These are the seven projects selected for the 2026 class. Huge congratulations to our partners doing this amazing work.   👇 Follow and support their missions.   Northern Quoll — Australian Wildlife Conservancy Banteng — Rising Phoenix Co. Ltd. Brown Howler Monkey — Refauna Black-Footed Ferret — Turner Endangered Species Fund Campbell’s Alligator Lizard — Fundación para las Especies Amenazadas de Guatemala -FUNDESGUA- Sunflower Sea Star — The Snuneymuxw First Nation Sihek (Guam Kingfisher) —The Nature Conservancy and the Sihek Recovery Project