TikToker Josh Richards is trying to recreate a woolly mammoth

 

A TikToker who went viral for his dance moves and thirst traps is now trying to recreate a Woolly Mammoth.

Josh Richards, a 19-year-old Canadian, who has amassed more than 20 million followers on TikTok, has created an $18 million venture capital fund.

The organisation is called Animal Capital and Richards created it with his business partner Michael Gruen and former Goldman Sachs investment banker Marshall Sandman.

The teenager is most known for his exploits on the viral-video sharing platform but has amassed huge followings on Instagram and Facebook. He has acted in films and has a podcast with Barstool Sports which has garnered millions of views.

Josh Richards is helping fund research to recreate to recreate the creature. Picture: Instagram.

Just last week, Animal Capital announced its investment and advisory position into Colossal.

It is the company that is using recent breakthrough advances in CRISPR genetic testing – a new wave of disruptive conservation and restorative biology which will eventually end extinction.

Richards told Forbes it was “mind boggling” he could be a part of a team involved in this type of research.

“To be involved in a company like this, that will change the world for the better, and allow my kids’ kids to have a better life, is truly an honour. My generation is the generation tasked with combating climate change and creating a better world as we are the generation set to inherit the Earth,” he said.

Colossal, said its species “de-extinction” effort has the potential to anchor a working model for restoring damaged or lost ecosystems and thereby help slow or even halt the effects of climate change.

“In addition to bringing back ancient extinct species like the woolly mammoth, we will be able to leverage our technologies to help preserve critically endangered species that are on the verge of extinction and restore animals where humankind had a hand in their demise.”

The animals died out about 4000 years ago. For decades, scientists have been recovering bits and pieces of mammoth tusks, bones, teeth and hair to extract and try to sequence the mammoth‘s DNA.

Asian elephants and woolly mammoths share a 99.6 per cent similar DNA makeup, Colossal says on its website.

“Technologies discovered in pursuit of this grand vision — a living, walking proxy of a woolly mammoth — could create very significant opportunities in conservation and beyond,” Church said in the statement.

Colossal says restoring the beasts has the potential to revitalise the Arctic grasslands, a vast region with major climate change-combating properties, such as carbon sequestering and methane suppression.

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