On Oct. 17, 2024, Colossal Biosciences, an American biotechnology and genetic engineering company, announced that it has a near-complete genome of the extinct Tasmanian tiger (thylacine). The company reported the genome was more than 99.9 per cent complete, with just 45 gaps that they plan to complete in the near future.

The genome of a preserved thylacine was first sequenced in 2017 using tissue from a then-108-year-old thylacine pouch preserved in alcohol, but that genome was far from complete, with numerous gaps.

The Tasmanian tiger was a carnivorous marsupials found throughout Australia, but by the time European explorers arrived in early 1600’s, they were limited to Tasmania. The last known Tasmanian tiger died in a zoo in 1936.