This week, the world met the woolly “mammouse”—a genetically engineered mouse with woolly mammoth hair. The scientists at Colossal Biosciences who created it think it’s a promising step toward their goal of recreating the woolly mammoth.

The biotech company Colossal Biosciences has long aspired to bring back the extinct woolly mammoth, which roamed the Northern Hemisphere thousands of years ago, during the last ice age. But for now, as a step along the way, the company has come up with something decidedly less mammoth: meet the woolly mouse.

Scientists working to bring back the woolly mammoth have created genetically engineered mice that they say have several features of the extinct ice age giant.