First the mammoth next the moa?

US technology billionaire Peter Thiel, who was granted New Zealand citizenship after only spending 12 days in the country, has been revealed as a backer of a project to 'resurrect' the woolly mammoth.

Photo: AFP / Supplied

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Review has reported Mr Thiel donated $US100,000 to the quest to make science fiction a reality.

It cites the new book by American author Ben Mezrich, Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive One of History's Most Iconic Extinct Creatures, which tells of Harvard University genomics expert George Church's bid to modify elephant cells with DNA from frozen mammoths.

Mr Thiel's donation was reportedly made in 2015 after he spoke with Mr Church about a number of different projects.

Mr Church told the MIT Review that Mr Thiel said he wanted to fund the "craziest thing" he was doing, so he gave him three choices: an anti-aging bid, a project using human neurons to create artificial intelligence, and the mammoth-elephant hybrid.

Mr Church told the magazine he was surprised by the decision given Mr Thiel's interest in extending the human lifespan.

Mr Thiel, 49, a PayPal co-founder and early Facebook investor, was granted New Zealand citizenship in June 2011 under exceptional circumstances despite not having lived in the country previously and not intending to do so in the future.

The 12 days he spent in the country were split over four trips during a five-year period. Normally a permanent resident has to spend 1350 days in the country over five years before they can apply for citizenship.