The Real Reason We Should Revive Extinct Animals

Cleo Abram October 14, 2025
Video Thumbnail
Cleo Abram Logo

Cleo Abram

@cleoabram

About

Video journalist making optimistic tech explainers. Huge If True. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram Twitter: https://twitter.com/cleoabram If you'd like to sponsor a Huge If True episode, reach out at the email below. If you're looking for my bio, here it is: Cleo Abram is a video journalist who produces Huge If True, an optimistic show about science and technology. Huge If True is an antidote to the doom and gloom, helping a wide audience see better futures they can help build. In each episode, Cleo dives deep into one innovation that could shape the future. She has explored humanoid robots at Boston Dynamics, supersonic planes at NASA, quantum computers at IBM, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and more. Previously, Cleo was a video producer at Vox and directed for Explained on Netflix. She was the host of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as co-host of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Video Description

The real story about “de-extinction”... Try RHINOSHIELD with code CLEO for 10% off https://url.rhinoshield.io/CLEO The Tasmanian tiger was declared extinct in 1982. But now… scientists are trying to bring it BACK. And it’s not alone! You might’ve seen news about dire wolves, woolly mammoths, passenger pigeons… dodo birds… dinosaurs?? “De-extinction” has become a huge and urgent scientific debate. But when I took a deep dive into what’s really going on here, I realized we're getting this conversation very, very wrong. We're on the cusp of a huge genetic breakthrough… and yet the most "huge if true" thing happening here isn’t bringing back extinct animals. It's what this means for all the animals alive today! And very few people seem to know about it… Chapters: 00:19 Can we bring back extinct animals? 01:22 Can we bring back a mammoth? 02:24 Is Jurassic Park possible? 05:44 Are Dire Wolves brought back from the dead? 6:26 What is de-extinction? 09:04 How do we save cute little animals? 11:08 Is the Tasmanian tiger coming back? 12:50 When is it ok to bring back an extinct animal? 14:09 What’s coming next for de-extinction? 15:10 Why is this huge if true? 15:42 :) You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram Bio: Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked. Additional reading and watching: - SciShow “What Caused the Mass Extinction of Billions of Passenger Pigeons?”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twr53QVGh0E - Colossal "The First Dire Wolf Howl in Over 10,000 Years" https://youtu.be/vPX4tm-J2bU?si=RtSR_kFiJsueBzVL - PBS Terra “What if we Brought Back the Passenger Pigeon”: https://youtu.be/7z8rXihJV4Y?si=QhhVkvc0u0fjZ8WE - Nature on PBS “Coral Reefs That Can Finally Beat the Heat | WILD HOPE”: https://youtu.be/adcfkAplT_4?si=f4wby33bHOUTrDT- - TIME “No Longer Extinct? Colossal Biosciences' Dire Wolf Project” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6ta3TX2Zgw - Science Magazine “Pleistocene Park: Born to rewild” https://youtu.be/IWnlPYu3ovQ?si=9fAMoiQtMSy8Wm14 - Be Smart “The Strange Evolutionary Story of the Thylacine”: https://youtu.be/fHs_lniTNvI?si=Hq3G4GOFuFSsfL5l - The Joe Rogan Experience “#2338 - Beth Shapiro” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsMH1-Bbqr0 - You can learn more about Black Footed Ferrets and the work from Revive & Restore on their website: https://reviverestore.org/ - To read about the efforts to biobank animals check out the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance: https://sandiegozoowildlifealliance.org/biodiversity-banking Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/ Gear I use: Camera: Sony A7SIII Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro Music: Musicbed, Tom Fox Follow along for more episodes of Huge If True: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1 — Hey, welcome to the joke down low! What do you call a dinosaur that never gives up? Try-ceratops! Find a way to use “try-ceratops” in a comment to let me know you’re a real one who made it to the end of the description :)