The biotech firm that brought dire wolves back from extinction has unveiled a ‘modern-day Noah’s Ark’ designed to safeguard the planet’s most vulnerable species.

Colossal Biosciences announced on Tuesday a partnership with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to store tissue samples of 100 species in a BioVault at a new World Preservation Lab to be constructed in Dubai.

Species will be chosen based on key criteria, with guidance from conservation partners and authorities like the IUCN, the global expert on protecting the natural world.

The BioVault will safeguard cryogenically frozen genetic material from multiple species to preserve genetic diversity. 

Colossal said the facility will be managed using advanced robotics and artificial intelligence for precise monitoring.

The Dallas-based company aims to store over a million samples from more than 10,000 species. 

Faced with the possibility that nearly 50 percent of species may disappear by 2050, the BioVault could provide the genetic tools to preserve endangered animals and resurrect extinct ones, Colossal and the UAE said.

Colossal Biosciences co-founder and CEO Ben Lamm said: ‘We are losing species at an alarming rate, and the world urgently needs a distributed network of global BioVaults – a true backup plan for life on Earth.

The scientists have likened the BioVault to the biblical story of Noah, who built a massive ark that held a pair of each species, saving them from a catastrophic flood that swallowed all life on Earth.

Source: