A veterinarian, wracked with grief and guilt after accidentally running over his dog, decides to clone the beloved pet. A genetics lab in the US is working on engineering ‘cold-resistant elephants’ to populate Arctic regions. Meanwhile, in Siberia, a father-son duo is trying to recreate an entire ecosystem that vanished thousands of years ago.
This might sound like the opening sequence to a new zombie apocalypse movie (or worse, Jurassic World), but these are hard facts. Mayurica Biswas’ The Resurrection Quest, a four-part documentary series, tells the stories behind these real life experiments, while also asking the question: is this so-called “de-extinction” science an act of hope or hubris?
The series arrives at a timely moment. Just days ago, a viral storm hit the internet after Colossal Biosciences, a key protagonist in The Resurrection Quest, announced that they had brought the dire wolf out of extinction. Dire wolves (Aenocyon dirus)—popularised by countless fantasy novels including Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones—are in fact an extinct species of large carnivores.
I still say “extinct,” because not everyone agrees that these fascinating creatures have truly been brought back. Many scientists have been quick to point out that what Colossal has actually done is create a slightly gene-edited grey wolf (Cannis lupus) with some dire wolf-like traits. Besides, Colossal’s research has reportedly not been peer reviewed yet.
Still, the news is by no means less exciting. In 2021, research suggested that dire wolves might not even have been real wolves as previously believed, but an evolutionary predecessor. According to Scientific America, the dire wolf and grey wolf lineages haven’t shared a common ancestor for a whopping 5.7 million years. The dire wolf’s is a more ancient line than that of the grey wolf, which are presently understood to have first evolved in Eurasia 25,000 years ago.
The Resurrection Quest focuses on another of Colossal’s projects: the gene-editing of Indian elephants (Elephas maximus indicus) to make them cold resistant, like their extinct cousins—the woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius).
The quest takes us to the freezing tundras where the woolly mammoths once roamed in large numbers. And we are introduced to scientists Sergey and Nikita Zimov in eastern Siberia. Here, the father and son have founded the Pleistocene Park, its moniker perhaps a reference to the Jurassic Park film franchise. The Pleistocene epoch refers to a time period between around 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago. Notably, it witnessed the last Ice Age.
“If I came here 30,000 years ago and looked down from this hill, I would see 2,000 to 3,000 animals. There would be mammoths, bison, horses, reindeer, wolves, lions, woolly rhinoceros,” Nikita Zimov tells us about these lands, which are part of what is referred to as the Mammoth Steppe ecosystem of the Pleistocene.
The duo says they are trying to combat climate change. Beneath the ground here lies the intercontinental permafrost—a layer of permanent ice, often covered by soil and organic life called an active layer. During the Pleistocene, the high density of animal life, temperate climate and grasslands, all contributed to keeping the permafrost from melting. The Zimovs aim to recreate this, complete with grasslands, existing large herbivores, and eventually, Colossal’s genetically engineered winter-happy elephants.
Why bring back something as close to mammoths as possible? Because these extinct beasts appear to have carried the unfortunate burden of having served as a ‘keystone’ organism. As the name suggests, such organisms’ presence or absence have a large impact on their ecosystem. Their extinction can have disastrous consequences on dependent organisms and habitats.
Take the attempts to save northern white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) that The Resurrection Quest also explores. Hunted to functional extinction, the species is limited to two females, both too old to reproduce.
The attempt to save northern white rhinos from the ecological carnage created by trophy hunters sounds hopeful. But it’s hard to watch the series without worrying if the attempts to bring back far more ancient habitats and organisms—even for a noble cause—could end up becoming just hubris.
And if scientific dread is your concern, The Resurrection Quest truly has you feeling anxious when you meet the pet cloners.
Death and resurrection are a part of human mythology and are an integral theme throughout the docu-series. How do you rationalise away the grief of a lost pet? How do you balance your own pain with the extreme requirements of cloning a perfect match? For example, not all embryos will result in healthy births. Then what happens to the “excess” of cats or dogs produced during this process, one writer on biotechnology asks in the docu-series. And what happens when a clone doesn’t behave like its donor, as is natural?
De-extinction isn’t necromancy. There is no science that can raise the dead. But science can clone a dearly loved pet that passed away. Or maybe, it can bring a species–poached to near extinction—back from that brink. Or, instead of acting as a salve to grief, cloning can be deeply entwined with multi-million dollar animal beauty and racing industries, the series reveals in some detail. Or … well, there are many “or’s.”
But what science also does is set a precedent. Today, your pet. Tomorrow, who knows? That is the question hanging nervously in the air as you watch The Resurrection Quest.
The stories of all these experiments come together with ease, each flowing into the other to highlight that such work is interconnected. This series moves gracefully between labs in the US and China, Kenya, the UAE, Siberia, Singapore, and more. The Resurrection Quest takes you from heartbreak to the wonder of science to the commerce of cloning. But science must also ask the question: what will all of this cost?
While there is critique—such as pointing out how uncaring politicians can push developmental projects with even less regard for local wildlife—the series doesn’t offer enough on the more sinister aspects of cloning and genetic engineering to uninformed viewers. These aspects seem to be handled a little too fleetingly in certain portions. Any viewer must make up their own mind, of course. But maybe another episode or two would have given them enough material to do this more equitably.
The Resurrection Quest is available for streaming on YouTube and is produced by the Singapore-based news channel CNA. The series can also be watched on the CNA website.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.