Company revives dire wolf after 10,000 years of extinction
Researchers at Colossal Biosciences recently made headlines after disclosing that they successfully genetically modified three wolves resembling a dire wolf, an extinct species from more than 10,000 years ago.
The wolves are currently residing in an unknown location in the US, but the researchers said on Monday that the puppies’ ages range from three to six months old, have long white hair, a muscular jaw, and will eventually weigh around 60 kilograms when mature, like a dire wolf.
Colossal Biosciences took to its official socials and wrote, “SOUND ON. You’re hearing the first howl of a dire wolf in over 10,000 years. Meet Romulus and Remus—the world’s first de-extinct animals, born on October 1, 2024.” Following a video of a baby wolf howling in the hands of a man.
The female wolf is named Khaleesi after the hit fantasy TV show, “Game of Thrones.” The popular series partook in the dire wolf’s popularity in pop culture since the extinct species made countless appearances in it.
Company revives dire wolf after 10,000 years of extinction
Colossal Biosciences’ main aim is to bring back lost species from the past. The company announced back in 2021 that it’s working on bringing back the dodo bird, a bird species extinct since 1681, but it has proven difficult to do so.
With controversial research comes speculation and concern from people across the globe. The official account of Jurassic Park on Musk’s X (formerly known as Twitter) jokingly wrote in response to the dire wolf’s possible revival, “We see no possible way this could go wrong.”
How did they manage to revive a 10,000-year-old extinct species?
Colossal Biosciences by cloning and gene-editing DNA from two dire wolf samples. CEO Ben Lamm described the event as a “massive milestone” and said, “I could not be more proud of the team. This massive milestone is the first of many coming examples demonstrating that our end-to-end de-extinction technology stack works.”
He added, “Our team took DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies.”
