The Dallas-based Colossal Foundation has announced a $500,000, five-year partnership with the Turner Endangered Species Fund to hasten recovery of the Bolson tortoise, North America’s largest and rarest tortoise species, within its prehistoric range, marking a critical advancement for Pleistocene rewilding efforts.
“By returning the Bolson tortoise—la Tortuga Grande—to landscapes it last knew in the late Pleistocene, we’re proving that restoration can reach further back than the post-Columbian record,” Mike Phillips, executive director of Turner Endangered Species Fund, said in a statement. “When historical ranges can’t guarantee survival, prehistoric refuges may hold the key. Choosing that path affirms that recovery, not extinction, is still ours to decide—and the Colossal Foundation’s commitment is a powerful choice in the tortoise’s favor.”
The foundation is the nonprofit charitable organization associated with Dallas-based de-extinction company Colossal Biosciences, run by Dallas entrepreneur Ben Lamm.
Key highlights of the effort include, per the foundation:
:: Historic Recovery: The Bolson tortoise is the first Pleistocene megafauna species to be repatriated to its prehistoric U.S. range after more than 10,000 years of local extinction.
:: Conservation Success: TESF has grown the population from 23 adults to over 800 individuals through captive breeding, with over 150 juveniles released since 2021 showing 80%+ survival rates.
:: Ecosystem Impact: As a keystone species, Bolson tortoises create burrows that provide critical habitat for numerous desert animals, enhancing biodiversity across southwestern ecosystems.
:: Urgent Need: Currently listed as Critically Endangered by IUCN and Endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act due to habitat loss, climate change, and illegal harvest
The partnership said it aims to establish three or more self-sustaining, free-ranging populations by 2031.
The Colossal Foundation said its investment will support genetic sequencing, population monitoring, and the release of at least 100 additional juvenile tortoises across Armendaris Ranch, a 362,885-acre ranch in south central New Mexico along the Rio Grande River, and dozens more to the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico.
Colossal said the efforts aim to establish three or more self-sustaining, free-ranging populations by 2031.
The initiative is part of The Colossal Foundation’s Species Reintroduction Fund, a global effort leveraging cutting-edge conservation technologies to restore keystone species worldwide.
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