Dallas-based genetics and biotech startup Colossal has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from venture capitalists, the CIA, and Peter Thiel , among others . Its buzzy “de-extinction” projects aim to “bring back” lost animals like the woolly mammoth , the Tasmanian tiger , and the dire wolf — although it isn’t creating copies of extinct creatures from ancient DNA, as the “de-extinction” tagline may suggest. In the case of the “ dire wolves ” presented to the world in 2025, the pups were gray wolves spliced with a few genetic traits to somewhat resemble the dire wolves. This ambitious branding opened the company up to questions about its conservation efforts and criticism for apparently not really “de-extincting” anything at all. Colossal’s latest “de-extinction” project, announced in April, seems to represent something of an adjustment to its public-facing strategy. It’s focused on a plan for the bluebuck, a species of South African antelope that went extinct around 1800.…